Missing
by TheMysteriouswatcher
Summary: New enemies arising. New alliances are being formed. The Dragon warrior disappears and great romances appears. Rated T for violence, language, and some minor suggestive themes. PoxTigress and also ViperxCrane in some parts! O/C!
1. Departure and A New Recruit

**(A/N: STORY TIME.)**

Tigress sat on the small bed in her room and thought about what had happened about a year ago. Tai Lung, a fierce and powerful former student of Master Shifu, an extremely talented Kung Fu teacher, had become evil after not being chosen to be the all powerful Dragon Warrior. At the same time, Po Ping, a panda with an ambitious dream to become a Kung Fu fighter, crosses ways in a battle that would be history's greatest fight ever.

_Flashback_

-''You… can't defeat me…'' a battered Tai Lung mumbled as he crawled out of a hole in the ground. He stumbled across the ground towards the legendary black and white warrior. ''You're just… a big… fat… panda!'' with those words, he flung one of his fists at Po. Po however, remembering all that Shifu had thought him, anticipated the attack and grabbed his hand.

-''I'm not a big fat panda…'' Po said with a serious tone in his voice. ''I'm THE Big Fat Panda!'' and suddenly, Po's pinkie came up. Tai Lung looked at it in horror.

-''The Wuxi Finger Hold!'' he said, voice trembling.

-''Oh, you know this hold?'' Po said triumphantly.

-''You're bluffing, you're bluffing.'' Tai Lung said and tried to sound as self confident as possible. ''Shifu didn't teach you that!'' Po then smiled.

-''Nope. I figured it out myself. Skadoosh.'' With that sort of ''Catchphrase'', Po let his pinkie come down on Tai Lung's index finger. It took a second, with Tai Lung staring in terror, before a brilliant flash of yellow energy expanded in a shockwave-like manner. Tigress, the Five, and the entire valley's population were right now exiting the valley in an evacuation attempt when the shockwave reached them.

After it had past, the fleeing people returned to the village, only to find the same yellow Chi energy dusting everything down. After a minute or so, they could see a silhouette approaching in the far distance of the fog. Even though the fog was thick, you could easily see who it was through it.

Po slowly strode out of the thick mist. On his head was a sort of pot, and tied around his tummy was the chef's suit. He stopped in front of them all, and with a triumphant pose, he greeted his teammates, who in turn bowed to him. Tigress especially, saying master in unison. Po smiled and then remembered Shifu, who was left in the temple after the attack of Tai Lung. Tigress looked at him as he ran up the stairs back to the temple, head filled with numerous different thoughts about her now called master.

_Flashback end_

Tigress sighed as the recap was over. Po wasn't there anymore. A few years after the defeat of Tai Lung, one night he had mysteriously disappeared. When Tigress heard about it, she refused to believe it. As a matter of fact, the female tiger had started to develop certain… feelings for this special panda. On several occasions he had saved her life when fighting against different villains. One time especially when a villain fired a weapon at her, Po quickly pushed her out of the way and took the blow for her. It did damage him a fair bit, and after the battle she asked him why he had done it. He answered that he wouldn't ever let anything happen to his friends, but Tigress felt somehow that that wasn't the complete answer. At any rate, the two became closer than ever, and one time it had gone so far that a hug had been shared between the two.

-''Tigress!'' Tigress then heard her name being called out loudly by a familiar voice. She shook her head and looked over at the doorway. There stood her former master, who had become an assistant of Po. When he disappeared of unknown reasons, he had resumed his previous role as master of the Five, but it would never be the same as before with Po gone.

-''Uh, yes, master?'' she responded shortly, half her mind still clouded by the thoughts. Shifu walked over to Tigress.

-''I had to call thrice before you heard me. What's the matter?'' Tigress tried to avoid the question as much as possible; she didn't want to talk more about it than possible. It was still a very sensitive subject. But she felt that she had to tell him, after all, he was very much like her father.

-''Well… it's…'' she stammered. It was hard to bring her to tell it. ''It's Po. Ever since he disappeared mysteriously, I've been thinking about him a lot. There is a lot I need to talk to him about, but I never got the chance.'' Tigress explained. Shifu nodded slowly in understanding. After all, he had lived a very long time and he understood what feelings were.

-''You had feelings for him, didn't you?'' Shifu then asked, catching Shifu off guard. She looked at him in shock, but realized that she was busted.

-''Well… Uh, hmm…'' she stuttered, then gathered herself and took a deep breath. ''I did, and I still do. He is one of the best persons I have ever come to meet. If I could, I would admit to him that he is very special to me, but I simply… can't. Especially now that he is gone without a reason…'' Tigress almost felt a very small tear appearing in her eye, but she managed to push it back. Those feelings were really strong.

-''Well, wherever he is, I'm sure he's thinking about you all the time.'' Shifu said with a comforting voice.

-''Thanks, but Shifu? How did you know that I have feelings for him?'' Tigress asked, curious. Shifu just chuckled.

-''Please, Tigress. You're more or less my daughter. I've had the joy of knowing you for almost twenty-five years. You don't think I can see that you have fallen for a man?'' Shifu asked a bit ironically. Tigress rubbed her back, not sure what to say.

-''If he was still here, I would probably tell him openheartedly what I felt, even if doesn't feel the same, or the others laughs at me. I would tell him.''

-''I know that, Tigress. But I am very sure that he thinks that you're very special to him too. Do you know what he said to me once when the two of us trained in the Great Hall of Warriors?'' Shifu asked her, to which she shook her head. Shifu then smiled and chuckled.

-''What did he say, Shifu?'' Tigress almost nagged him, very curious.

-''He told me that it was only a dream to him to ever meet, and especially, to talk to you. He told me that he would do almost anything to talk to you. And now, when you are best friends, he thinks that he lives one of the best lives there is to live.'' Shifu told his student. Tigress listened with happiness.

-''Did he really say that?'' She asked for confirmation for what Shifu just had told her. He nodded slowly as an answer.

-''He did indeed. I think you got your confirmation right there.'' Shifu assured her of her thoughts. Tigress smiled as the duo walked out of the room they were in. At first, Tigress really hadn't enjoyed Po's stay at the Jade palace, but as time went by, and Po became better at Kung Fu each day, and eventually when he defeated Tai Lung, the way she felt about him was the other way around. When he started to save her life on all those different missions, Tigress really got attached to him. Thinking about him most of the time from then, she felt that her hardcore outside wasn't much of a match against Po's soft inside. It had found its way into Tigress' heart, and before he knew it, those feelings had shown themselves. Luckily, it didn't disturb her training. As a matter of fact, training with Po actually made her perform even better. Shifu noticed this, and credited her for it, but at this time he had no idea of those feelings.

The two Kung Fu fighters descended the stairs leading down to the ''kitchen'' of the palace. All of the others were already there: Viper, Monkey, Crane and Mantis. As they saw their master along with their fellow teammate, they all greeted them with a loud ''Good evening!'' Shifu sat down at his end of the table and motioned for tigress to do the same. She did, and then she noticed someone standing over at the stove, cooking something.

-''Who's that?'' Tigress asked shortly, quickly and thoroughly scanning the person's features. It was clearly a male, seeing as it had a strong upper body build, along with very muscular legs. Seeing as the figure had a long, thin tail with stripes much like her own, she easily concluded that it was a tiger.

-''Well, they call me handsome, but my real name is Kajirn.'' The tiger said as he whipped around, a couple of bowls in each hand. ''I am a very skilled fighter, and Shifu is thinking about starting a school for children, to teach them Kung Fu. I am to be his assistant.'' Kajirn explained.

-''And he's a really good cook, too! Man, I've not eaten anything this good in a long time, except for… Well, yeah, you know…'' Monkey shouted, but he was cut off by himself when he realised who he was about to talk about.

-''Yeah, we… know who you mean.'' Viper helped her as she used her tail to pick up the spoon Kajirn had placed in front of her. Tigress sighed and looked over at Shifu. He looked very calm, but still like something was bothering him. He still ate his food without saying much. Tigress waited until Kajirn served her a bowl as well.

-''So…'' Kajirn began as he readied the final bowls, these ones for Mantis and Crane. ''Where did he go?'' No one needed the name to know who he talked about. But no one felt like answering either. That was until Tigress pushed away a half full bowl and left the table.

-''Well…'' Crane began, carefully sipping on a spoon of the hot sauce that Kajirn had placed In front of him. ''It was a completely normal day, just a normal day in the Jade Palace. We were going to go through a full day of not much else but training and Po told us that he was going to go outside for some fresh air, gather his thoughts. He did so, but when he didn't come back inside to resume his training, we went outside to look for him. We spent the whole remaining day searching, but we just couldn't find the guy. He didn't come back for several weeks, and so we gave up and went back to training.'' Crane took another sip. ''Things haven't been the same since.''

Kajirn nodded in understanding, as he placed the bowl down in front of Mantis, who started to eat.

-''Man…'' Kajirn started. ''That really stinks… I remember when I was younger; I used to look up to him. I wanted to be a fighter like him, and so I trained as well. Not only did I train in practising the martial arts, I studied every book I could get my hands on. Eventually, at a tournament Shifu had created for young fighters, I participated, and luckily, I won. After the finale, Shifu asked to talk to me behind the stage. There, he invited me to assist him in creating that school for children I told you about. We haven't started it yet, but we will soon enough.'' Kajirn explained to his fellow Kung Fu-ers. He then sat down at the only empty seat at the table, the one where Tigress had been sitting a while ago.

Monkey now lowered his voice down to a whisper.

-''The atmosphere in the palace isn't the only thing that has changed. You know, Tigress has also changed since he disappeared. She isn't as happy as she was during his time here after defeating Tai Lung.''

Meanwhile, Tigress heard every word that was spoken. And at Monkey's explanation, she could feel her heart ache. Every day that had passed without Po was pretty lonely and empty, and Tigress could admit that she would do a lot of things to make him return.

-''Where are you, Po?'' she whispered into the roof. Night had started to fall and tomorrow would make exactly two months since his disappearance. Tigress then fell silent for a few seconds before making a decision. She got a piece of paper and a paper and wrote:

_Dear friends_

_I am sorry, but I can not stand this. Every day without Po is very painful, and it tears my heart apart. And furthermore, I don't care what you say. I have wanted to tell you this for a long time now, but I love Po. I don't care what you may think or feel, but my feelings for him are stronger than anything else._

_That is why I will go look for him. If I find him, I will try to get him back to the Jade Palace, and if not, well… I love you all and I hope that you don't take this too hard._

_-Tigress._

Tigress left the note on her bed and looked back a second as she was perched on the window frame in her room. Then, she leapt out without a sound.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KUNG FU PANDA, ONLY THE O/C PRESENT IN THIS STORY.**


	2. Finding Paths and Many Thoughts

The next day, Shifu was the first one up, just as normal. As he passed through the hallway containing the rooms of the Five, everyone got up and stood just outside the room's entrances. Well, everyone except Tigress. Kajirn was also not present, as he was making breakfast downstairs.

-''Viper, Monkey, Mantis, and Crane and…'' Shifu froze as Tigress' threshold was empty. He walked over to the closed door and carefully knocked on it.

-''Tigress, are you in there?'' When no answer came, Shifu frowned and pushed the door open. There was no one inside the room, her bed was made and all the furniture stood where it was supposed to. Shifu then noticed the note on the bed. He then called for the others to come into the room. Soon afterwards, Kajirn also joined in. They all gathered around Shifu as he read the note. When he was finished, everyone stared in each other in shock.

-''So that's why she changed so much…'' Mantis began.

-''She loves him!'' Viper finished for him. She then glanced over at the open window. She crawled over at it and looked out. The view was really beautiful; you could see the entire Valley of Peace. Viper went back inside.

-''She must be really far away now, I mean if she has travelled the entire night.'' Monkey stated, the others agreeing silently. Kajirn looked out the window as well.

-''Well, if I knew where Po was, I could find several different shortcuts to the location. No offense, but I know this valley better than anyone else.'' This statement got a couple of glances that expressed nothing but annoyance.

-''What? I do!'' He said in a very self-confident tone in his voice. He then went out into the hallway, down into the foyer, and then outside. The other hesitated before following.

Tigress grunted as she leapt over another gap. It was the third gap as of now, and she was starting to get tired. She had travelled the whole night, and it was early morning as of now. The only food she had brought was a small package of Tofu, which was long gone by now. However, she had found plenty of Ginkgo Leafs which she could eat. It wasn't much, but it allowed her to maintain her strength.

After taking a short break, she continued travelling. Her way of travelling was now no longer sprinting, but instead brisk walking. She had checked a lot of places that she known Po had visited, and stayed at, several times, but no one held her friend, and also her love.

Po had said to her that she was very hardcore and also not being able to feel any emotions, but Tigress didn't agree completely on that. She knew fully well how to show emotion, but you couldn't do that in the heat of battle. That is why she had learned to conceal emotions during said fights. But when it came to Po, Tigress felt that she couldn't do that.

At this time, Tigress was at least ten miles away from the sacred Jade Temple. It was not uncommon for Po to make training travelling far away. Sometimes, he was away for several days. But not for two months…

Tigress leaned on a tree. Her heart was beating both out of physical exhaustion as well as mental. If she couldn't find Po soon, she didn't know what she would do. All this mental stress would be two much.

Then something horrifying hit Tigress' mind. What if Po wasn't even alive anymore? If that was the case, Tigress would turn completely insane. A life without Po; that would be like a Yin without a Yang, like heaven without the sun. Tigress fell to the ground and lay down on her side. She then flipped over on her back and looked up into the sky. It carried a bright blue colour, and the sun was standing on the horizon.

-''I need to find him…'' she mumbled to herself, and with that, she resumed running, in a direction of a place that Po could possibly be at.

-''Where could she have gone?'' Mantis asked as Kajirn brought up a detailed map of the valley and all its surroundings. He then mumbled a few sentences to himself and marked different paths with his paw. The others looked on in patient waiting, including Shifu.

-''Alright, since Tigress… hmm…'' Kajirn kept mumbling to himself, and then he shouted in excitement. Monkey was the first to show up beside him, followed closely by the others.

-''Okay, I don't know exactly where Po is, but I do know that he is in a westward direction, because of the marks I found outside the Palace and then the valley. That gives me the conclusion that he has travelled to a place in the Kurijan Mountains. The only path the goes west lead up to those mountains and Tigress has taken one that goes through the Plains of Yinga in the north. That means she will take this path.'' Kajirn explained and marked out different areas and paths on the map.

-''Which way can we use to get o Tigress fast then?'' Monkey asked as he looked at all the roads and stuff like that.''

-''Well…'' Kajirn began. ''There is an inaccessible, or, well, almost inaccessible path which goes through the Rujary Mountains, which are just south of the Kurijan Mountains. If we go through the mountain pass up in the highest mountain, we will be one day ahead of Tigress. We can intercept her here, at the Pass of Kurijan, which is another mountain pass which lies a little bit lower than the other pass. If we can get through the first pass before Tigress can reach the second one, we will be able to reach her at the second pass. I don't know where she is right now, and that is why I think we should departure immediately.''

-''Well, then so be it. Everyone, gather anything you need, such as food and supplies, Tigress is a very fast warrior and we will have to move fast to be able to intercept him.'' Shifu spoke up; everyone immediately went for their respective rooms to gather anything they need, ranging from supplies to equipment.

Around fifteen minutes later, the whole gang met in the courtyard of the Jade Palace. Everyone had a backpack with them, save for Mantis, due to his small size. Kajirn went through all the supplies and made sure that it didn't weigh too much. After all, he knew, just as well as Tigress, that the many Ginkgo trees they would find before going into the cold, chilly climate of the mountains, they could save their food for their, and eat Ginkgo leafs until then. Kajirn explained that to them all, and no one seemed to think it was a bad plan. Shifu even credited him for his thinking.

-''Alright.'' Kajirn then spoke up, getting everyone's attention. ''These passes are pretty cold, and any, and I mean ANY, source of food up there is extremely scarce, which is why we will use as food to save our other food that we bring with us. Any questions? The more we delay, the lesser the chance we will succeed in catching up to and intercepting will become.'' When everyone nodded and said nothing was need to be said, Kajirn heaved up his backpack onto his back and started to walk in the direction he had pointed out.

Tigress had slowed down to a brisk walk once again as she was munching on another Gingko leaf. The thin dew of the leaf didn't taste much, nor was it very filling, but because of its quantity, a ten or fifteen leafs or so could replace a full breakfast meal. Tigress then picked some more off of a tree nearby.

Eventually, Tigress came to a small village that was hidden away from most of the world outside. Tigress started stepping down the slope and towards the small village. She couldn't see any one right now, but that wasn't very surprising. Pandas weren't morning folk, and they could easily sleep until noon.

Tigress then threw a glance at the rise fields very close to town. She could see a few pandas down there, but not many, and as far as she could see, no one of them was Po.

-''This is the last place I can imagine him to be at…'' Tigress mumbled to herself. ''If he isn't here, then I don't know what.''

Tigress then proceeded to the bottom of the fairly long slope. The village was around one hundred feet away now, and Tigress knew she wouldn't have much trouble getting there in a few minutes.

And so it was. Before two minutes, she had reached the outskirts of the village. A panda spotted her and bowed respectfully. Tigress firmly but still kindly told him to rise, and so he did and continued to work. Tigress kept on going to a building which was the largest one in the village. She carefully observed all the visible Pandas in the area, but after a quick scan, she was assured that none of them was Po.

She then proceeded into the building, which turned out to be an inn. Only one panda was in the foyer, which also wasn't Po. Tigress approached the desk at which the panda was bent down behind, looking for something in the shelves underneath. When the panda, a fairly old male, found what he was looking for, he looked up and was startled at the sight of the female tiger looking at him. After he recovered, he bowed, but Tigress cut that off.

-''No need to bow, panda. I am here in search of a panda, Po Ping.'' Tigress explained. ''Is he here, in this village?''

-''Who? Po Ping? That name is familiar… Ah yes, Tui Ping's son. Yes, he is in the village temple.''

-''I do not know where that is. Could you please give the way?'' Tigress asked very politely. The panda then opened a window and pointed at a very large majestic building just beside the inn.

-''Yes, it is just next door.''

-''Thank you so much.'' Tigress thanked and bowed to the panda, which did the same back. Tigress exited the building and then took a left and spotted the temple. Hesitantly, she proceeded inside.


	3. The Five Follows and Confessions

Tigress slowly pushed against the temple doors. They creaked open, the old wooden doors making noise as they swung open. Tigress stepped into the temple itself. It reminded a lot of the Jade Palace back at home. It was really big, and several runes and inscriptions decorated the tall and mighty walls surrounding the chamber.

At first, Tigress couldn't see anyone in the vicinity. She looked around, checked in other rooms she could find and searched everywhere, but she couldn't find Po anywhere.

-''I don't get it… He said that Po was here…'' she mumbled out loud. Suddenly, her sensitive ears picked up something behind her. Before she could turn around however, she heard something else.

-''Looking for me?''

-''How do you know that Tigress is going through that Pass of… Whatever it was?'' Monkey asked Kajirn as the group was exiting the valley, heading for the tiny road that leaded up through the Mountains of Rujary.

-''Well, my dear friend, simply because that pass is connected to the path that is after the Plains of Yinga, and that is where Tigress is headed. If we hurry, we can intercept her at the pass of Kurijun, which is after the Rujary Mountains, just at a lower altitude. The Plains of Yinga connects to that pass, and taking the path through Yinga takes a much longer time than a path through the Pass of Rujary, and that is why we take that pass inside.''

-''Well, are you sure that she is going all the way through the pass of Kurijun? Maybe there is something on the Plains of Yinga that she has stopped at? Maybe she isn't going through the pass? Then we are wasting our time!'' Shifu tried to get Kajirn explain a little more, but since Kajirn seemed to know what he was doing, no one stopped really caring about it, and kept following him.

-''PO!'' Tigress exclaimed happily as the black and white warrior revealed himself from behind her. ''Where have you been? I've missed you so much!'' Tigress couldn't keep herself from lounging at Po and hug him. Then, she started to sob.

-''Where have you been, Po? I thought you were dead!'' she managed to say between sobs, burying her face into the crook of Po's neck. Po rubbed her back in a comforting manner as he felt the tears running from Tigress' eyes making his fur wet.

-''Well, Tigress, I've been here, to train further. When I first heard about this hidden away village, I shortly thereafter came here, seeing as both my mother and my father lives here. You know that, after I visited the village for that very first time, I came back and told you all about it and where it was. You haven't told anyone of the others about this village, right? Because I said it would stay a secret between you and me.''

Tigress looked up at Po with sadness in her eyes. The fur that ran down her cheeks was soaked, and the tears still filled Tigress' eyes.

-''No, I-I didn't, Po.'' She said, her voice still shaky from the recent sobbing. She then looked down again and buried her head into Po's chest. He returned the hug kind-heartedly.

-''Come on, Tigress, no need to cry so much! I'm right here!'' Po then said, parting with Tigress. She looked at his face, one arm crossing her chest and holding the other arm. She then looked down into the ground and sighed.

-''Hey… What's the matter now?'' Po then asked, slightly worried. Tigress then looked back up, her eyes carrying an expression Po had been used to when he first came to live in the Jade Palace.

-''Why did you do it?'' she then asked coldly, apparently angry. Po looked at her with a confused expression.

-''What do you mean? Do what?'' he asked her. She then growled and took a step away from Po.

-''Don't play stupid! You know what I mean! Why did you leave without saying anything?'' Tigress then raised her voice, trying to resist breaking into complete crying and hug him endlessly, happy of his well being. Po sighed, and then started to rub his neck with one paw.

-''Well…'' he began, but couldn't muster to finish it. When he remained silent for a few more minutes, Tigress aggressively walked up to him and grabbed a hold of his shoulder, shaking it roughly. It caused Po's head to snap back up, looking at Tigress once again.

-''Well?'' Tigress asked harshly. ''I'm waiting for an answer, Dragon Warrior.'' Tigress then resorted to call him by his title.

-''Ah, there is the pass of Rujary!'' Kajirn exclaimed as they started to travel upwards. ''It's not much left now until we reach the Pass of Kurijun. Kajirn was eagerly leading the group, Shifu following him, in turn followed by Crane, Mantis, Monkey and Viper in that order. They stopped for a short moment to catch a little breath. Kajirn inhaled the fresh air and sighed.

-''Nothing beats cool, nice mountain air, don't you think?'' he then exclaimed happily. The others inhaled almost simultaneously as an answer to his question, followed by a similar sigh.

-''Ah,'' Shifu said. ''You're right, Kajirn. Mountain air has always been nice.'' The others silently agreed. They then started to move again.

-''I wonder where Tigress is right now…'' Monkey asked to himself silently, looking up into the sky. It wasn't long until something caught his attention.

-''Hey, Kajirn…'' he began slowly, the target of the question turning around swiftly.

-''Yeah, what is it?''

-''Well, you said before that there was nothing on the Plains of Yinga more than wilderness, right?'' Monkey asked Kajirn, who answered with a quick ''Mhm.'' Monkey then pointed up into the sky with one hand, at a pillar of smoke. ''Then where does that smoke come from?'' Kajirn, upon hearing this, shouted in surprise and then looked in the direction that Monkey was pointing.

-''Whoa… Where does the smoke come from?'' Mantis asked out loud.

-''And I thought you said you knew the valley better than anyone else?'' Viper then asked with a teasing tone in her voice. Kajirn looked at her with an expression that said: Did I say that?

-''Well,'' Kajirn then spoke up again. ''That doesn't necessarily have to be anything. Maybe it's just a forest fire or something like that?'' He knew the others weren't gonna buy that, and he now understood himself that something had to be there.

-''No.'' Shifu interfered. ''That is a smoke pillar of that of a fireplace. That fire is under control.''

Mantis then took an initiative and leaped down from Monkey's shoulder.

-''Well, then I say we head there! There is a small mountain pass that leads down, below the mountains itself. If we follow it, we ought to come out on the other side of the Rujary Mountains, which should be the Plains of Yinga.''

Kajirn then chuckled, and looked down at the pass Mantis had pointed out.

-''Well, I'll be damned… You're right, Mantis. Good thinking, there.'' He credited the small insect. He then pointed at the red panda, which was looking up into the sky, still at the pillar of smoke.

-''Lead the way, Shifu!'' Kajirn then exclaimed happily. Shifu twitched a bit before turning his attention back to the group. With a short ''Alright, then'', he proceeded down the steep road that led down into the pass.

-''I came here to train, okay? One day, Shifu told me that there was something missing in my Kung Fu technique, but he refused to tell me what it was! So that's why I left! And I'm sorry for not telling you about it, but I needed to do this in peace, by myself.'' Po explained to the angered tiger as she aggressively accused him of turning his back on his friends.

-''But you could have at least have told us about it! We were really worried about it! We even thought…'' Tigress paused as she countered Po's explanation.

''We thought you might be dead! And if that would be the case, I wouldn't know what I would do!'' Po was taken a little aback by these words.

-''Wait, why wouldn't you know what to do?'' Po then asked, not understanding. That was it. Tigress had had it.

-''What do you think, you big, stupid…?'' Tigress was too angry to get herself to finish her sentence.

-''Hey, no reason to resort to name calling now!'' Po threw right back. ''Calm down, and tell me why you said that. Take a few deep breaths, and tell me.''

Tigress really flipped out. But Po could somehow understand why. She needed to get these bottled up emotions out that she had kept shut in for all these years.

-''Because… Because…'' Tigress screamed, trying to get herself to say what her heart wanted Po to hear. ''Because I love you! I love you, Po!'' she immediately clamped her mouth shut, but not quickly enough to prevent the words to come out. Her cheeks boomed out in massive red, and she looked down into the ground, ashamed.


	4. Shifu gets Shocked

Po stared in disbelief as Tigress' head and face was buried in her arms. After the two had had a hectic discussion about Po's mysterious disappearance several months ago, Po had asked a question, a question so vital that it would change both their futures. He had asked why she cared so much that he had been gone for those two months. The answer came out as one that Po would never have expected.

It turned out, much to Po's delight, that Tigress loved him. He had just been told this, and he had no idea why, or even since she had had feelings for him.

-''Wait, what do you mean, Tigress?'' Po then after her confession. This question caused Tigress to lift her head once again, her eyes sparkling.

-''What do you think I mean, Po? I love you, okay?'' Tigress explained, slightly sheepishly, as her cheeks once again turned a bright red. Po then cleared his throat and started to rub his neck with one paw again.

-''Can… I ask you something?'' Po then said, slightly hesitantly. Tigress replied to this with a quick nod, complemented by a smile. ''How long… Well… Have you felt that way…? Agh, stupid question!'' Po then groaned as he face-palmed himself. Surprisingly quick, Tigress now stood by his side, one paw firmly placed on his shoulder. The great warrior in black and white sighed.

-''That's not a stupid question, silly! As for the answer… let's say for a fairly long time.'' Tigress explained with happiness in her voice. Po then chuckled and stared up into the ceiling for a while. He then looked back at Tigress, a smile too on his face.

-''You know, Tigress… I love you too. Actually, ever since I heard about the Furious Five, and you, of course, I've always wanted to meet you. I actually dreamed of talking to you a few times, and those were the best dreams I've ever had. When I came up with that stupid idea to use a chair loaded with fireworks, I felt that I had just made the biggest mistake ever in my entire life.'' Po then explained, getting some kind of sadness in his voice that would remind one of a feeling of failure. Tigress noticed this and then spun around in front of him to face him.

-''Actually, Po… I am very thankful that you did that, on that tournament day. Because, meeting you was one of the best days in my life, I just couldn't see it at that time. After you defeated Tai Lung, it came apparent to me that I did indeed feel something for you. After you did the same with Lord Shen, I was completely assured.'' Po then proceeded to pull Tigress into a kind-hearted hug, something which Tigress didn't complain about. As a matter of fact, she enjoyed it, and a whole lot at that. When they parted after the first hug, they looked each other deep in the eyes. Po's green ones meeting Tigress' amber ones.

-''I do have to say… You have beautiful eyes…'' Po then blurted out, catching both himself and Tigress off guard. As for himself, he simply apologized for the compliment, while Tigress simply smiled at it.

-''Thanks, Po… I… appreciate it.'' She then said, not even aware of the blush that crept up on her face.

Suddenly, something started to happen that no one of them had been able to predict. Their faces, and most of all their lips, were about one and a half feet or so away from each other, but the distance was steadily closing.

-''Man…'' Kajirn exclaimed, stunned, as the group started to go down the slope that lead down into the Plains of Yinga. Shifu had indeed been right, and the pillar of smoke did indeed come from a fireplace under control. Apparently, this village hadn't been discovered yet, mainly because it was situated dozens of miles away from the Jade Palace in order to reach it. In order to even reach the Plains, one would have to get through the Forest of Mysticism, and there wasn't many who had the courage to do that.

Shifu was the first down the slope. He squinted, and could barely make out the silhouettes of moving figures but also buildings. He then started to walk slowly towards the village, the rest of the group following closely behind, Kajirn in last place. Viper then gasped as she, too, saw the moving silhouettes. They then sped up the pace, and they would be in the village in a few minutes.

-''This place is really isolated…'' Crane then stated, as both he and every one else could understand why this village had never been found. The Plains of Yinga alone held a lot of dangerous wildlife, and you would definitely need some self-defence training to make it through the place in one piece.

Soon, the group arrived at the outskirt of the village, and the previously seen silhouettes turned out to be pandas, just like Po. One of them politely showed the way to the temple when Shifu asked for a young female tiger. The group thanked for the help and proceeded to head inside the temple.

-''I wonder if this is where Po originally came from… Before Mr. Ping adopted him, I mean.'' Monkey then speculated. No one really had anything to say about it, and Shifu then swung open the temple doors.

What they saw shocked them all, especially Shifu.

**(A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, not a lot of time here.)**


	5. The Return of an Old Enemy

No one in the fairly small group beleved what they witnessed. Everyone stared in shock as they looked on at what was happening. Although everyone except Kajirn was staring, no one had the same thought in mind as the other.

Shifu stared in shock, mostly because he hadn't ever expected this to happen so soon. He was the most shocked of them all.

Viper stared in shook, mostly because he hadn't ever thought that this would happen.

Crane stared in shock, but in a way that said that he was happy.

Mantis stared in shock, him feeling a feeling of jealousy inside.

Kajirn simply had a smug on his face saying that he was somewhat expecting this to happen as soon as the two persons that were gone met up with each other again.

Po and Tigress didn't notice the group at first. When they pulled away from each other from the loving kiss, they whispered an ''I love you'' to each other. Po then pulled her into a warm hug, which Tigress returned with all of her heart. Then, Tigress made the mistake of throwing a glance at the temple doors, due to the sudden increase of light in the chamber.

As soon as Tigress spotted them, well, all of her gaze fell on Shifu mostly; she immediately gasped in panic and pushed herself away from Po. Po stumbled backwards but managed to keep his balance. Tigress shifted her gaze between him and her master and father, before taking off with surprising speed.

Po was left standing dumbfounded. He just stared down the hallway which Tigress had fled through. Then he looked at his friends who were standing in the doorway. He recognized every single face except for the new one, the tiger one.

No one said anything for a while. Po was too stunned to bring himself to talk, and Shifu was still shaken from the thing he had just witnessed. It was as if they all had been petrified and rendered unable to talk.

-''Po…'' Shifu then whispered, breaking the silence. The tone in his voice was easily identified as angry. Po looked down at his small master, who kept looking back at him. Then, with one quick motion of his hand, the rest of the group went back outside, except for Kajirn, who proceeded to lean against a wall.

-''Po…'' Shifu then said, a little louder this time. This seemed to break Po out of his paralysis, as he immediately uttered a quick ''hello''. Shifu then proceeded to walk up to Po, still staring in almost disbelief.

-''Po, where have you been? You've been gone for two months!'' Shifu then asked, his voice now showing worry instead of anger. As he stopped in front of the great panda, he in turn bowed to him.

-''I've been training, master.'' Po replied, slightly humbly. Shifu then placed a paw on his forehead.

-''Why didn't you tell us anything?'' Shifu then asked, his voice still showing a deal of worry.

-''Well… I… Um…'' Po stammered. ''I came here mostly because I needed to meet my parents. During my adventures with taking down Lord Shen, I found the place where I was born. Apparently, after all the… explanations and… such, I also found out where they are right now! So I felt the need to get here as soon as possible, but I also felt that I couldn't just high-tail it and leave you guys. I know I should have told you, but I felt like this was something I needed to do alone.'' Po then explained with a kind of sad voice. Shifu then seemed to nod in understanding.

-''Well, let's forget about this. What I really want to talk to you about right now is Tigress. Shifu then noticed, almost immediately, how Po's cheeks started to go red right in front of him.

-''Uh… What about her?'' Po then asked, trying to sound as if he didn't know what Shifu was talking about, nor what he was about to get to. Shifu then chuckled slightly.

-''Come on, Po. You know what I'm talking about.'' Po tried his best to try to get out of it, but he couldn't possibly. Shifu had him caught in this one.

-''Okay, okay! So what? I love her, and I've been feeling that way for a long time. I've told you this, Shifu. Ever since I got to know about the furious five, it has been Tigress that I've always wanted to talk to. Before I accidentically tripped that firework-chair, I couldn't possibly have gotten so close to the Five that I have. And not so close to Tigress… that I have.'' Po's voice actually started to go up in volume.

-''Well, as a matter of fact, I have told her that you said that.'' At this statement, Po gave off a shout of surprise. Shifu just laughed at this.

-''Well, uh…'' Po stammered again. ''What did she say then?''

-''At first, she said that she too had feelings for you as well. Then, she told me that if you were here, she would open-heartedly tell you about, no matter if the others laughed at her or anything of the liking.'' Po actually felt his heart beat a little faster at this telling.

-''Well, maybe we should go look for her?'' Shifu then suggested, holding a hand, pointing out to a nearby hallway. He then walked over to the hallway and almost seemed to proceed inside.

-''Uh, just one question, master.'' Po then began. Shifu then turned around to face the panda.

-''Yes, Po?''

Po the rubbed his neck while looking at one side. ''Well, are you… like, mad, or something, that I kissed Tigress?'' Shifu thought about for a second before shaking his head quickly.

-''Not at all, Po. I'm only happy that the two of you have finally found each other.'' Shifu stated with a smile. ''As a matter of fact, it seems that you two are made for each other. I am indeed happy for you.''

Po smiled to himself and then looked at Kajirn, who was leaning on the wall, seemingly sleeping.

-''Who's that?'' Po asked shortly. Shifu then turned around, seeing Kajirn moving away from the wall.

-''Kajirn? What are you doing in here? I thought I told you to get out!'' Shifu shouted to the young Kung-Fu fighter.

-''Well, I decided that I wanted to listen in a little on the conversation.'' Kajirn then said indifferently, seeming to not really care about it. Shifu then growled in irritation.

-''Youths…! Anyway, Kajirn, while you're here, why don't you call in the others? They're probably getting a little impatient. '' Shifu then said. Kajirn proceeded outside to do as he was told. Shifu then turned his attention back to the large panda.

-''I think you should start looking for her, Po. After all, she's your special person.'' Po nodded in agreement as he started to walk down the hallway.

Tigress just stopped running as she ended up in some kind of shrine. There was an altar in the middle of the room, and some kind of runes decorated the walls. Tigress then sat down on a bench, catching her breath.

-''I can't BELIEVE that Shifu saw us… Oh, he's going to rip me apart! What was I thinking?'' Tigress mumbled to herself, angry over her lack of self-control against the panda.

-''Come on, Tigress! This isn't a question about self-discipline! You have feelings for Po, and you just expressed them in a very natural way. There is nothing to be afraid of.'' A voice from within Tigress whispered to her. Tigress knew that it was her heart speaking.

-''But what about Shifu! I'm sure that he is really angry with me now. Sure, I really love Po, and Shifu knows that, but I don't know if he would approve of us kissing…'' Tigress sighed as she got up from the bench. ''I'll have to talk to Shifu about it…'' she thought to herself as she proceeded to exit through the hallway she had come in through, and also the only one leasing to this shrine. As she walked through the hallways, her brain kept pondering about the problem.

Meanwhile, while Shifu was gathering all the others along with Kajirn, Po was going down one o the longer hallways in the temple. There were doors all over, but every one of them was locked. Po was actually surprised that they hadn't encountered any other pandas within the great building. Although that seemed to be an important thing to think about, it didn't bother Po very much. Knowing where his parents were was all that mattered as of now. That and trying to get it to work between him and Tigress.

As he walked down another corridor, he kept on thinking about everything. His parents, Tigress, his early life and meeting the furious five, and then of his heroic victories over two of history's most feared villains. In fact, he was so deep into thinking about it that he didn't notice the person coming down the hall in front of him. Apparently, none of them saw each other, as their heads were too filled with thoughts to do so.

They didn't notice each other until they crashed together. Po felt some minor pain in his head, as had walked with it down, but the other person was gripping her head rather tightly. Po's head cleared of the pain as he looked up again and saw the feline sitting on the ground in front of him.

-''Tigress!'' Po shouted in happiness as he lifted her up to her feet. Her head stopped pounding of pain as she could once again focus. She looked then at the panda.

-''Po! She burst out, her voice a mix of happiness and confusion. ''Po, Master Shifu will kill both of us!'' she then yelled quite loudly, worried both about her master as well as her love. Po then put a comforting paw on her shoulder, calming her down.

-''Don't worry, Ti.'' Po then came up with a new nickname for his love almost from out of thin air. Tigress then proceeded to give him another hug. Po returned the hug with all his heart. ''Master thinks it's a good thing that we have finally found each other.'' Tigress then started to sob slightly.

-''I'm so glad that I've got you, Po. Before you came into my life, sure, I was holding up pretty good, but when you appeared, I realized that you were the thing missing in my life. Love. Of course, even though I didn't like you at all when we first met, I came to get over that when you defeated Tai Lung. After Shen's defeat, I was certain that you were the one. Luckily, I was right.'' Tigress mused as her face was buried in Po's neck.

-''Well, it's a good thing that we worked that out, now isn't it?'' Po then said with a very kind and gentle tone in his voice. Tigress then gave off a sweet purr of happiness that Po had never heard before.

-''Whoa… I didn't know you could do that, Tigress.'' Po then said, not in complete awe but rather in surprise.

-''Well, I AM a tiger, right?'' Tigress said with a joking tone. Po just smiled and then kissed her forehead. Tigress really enjoyed that it seemed, as a stronger purr broke out from her throat.

-''I love you, Tigress.'' Po then said, still embracing her in the hug.

-''I love you too, Po.'' Tigress said right back.

-''Alright, if we split up, we have a greater chance of finding-'' Shifu was starting to instruct his group of friends before the panda, followed closely by the tiger, emerged out of a nearby hallway.

-''Hi, everyone…'' Tigress said quietly to the group, almost feeling ashamed. Po then apologized to the group and told them everything about the village and such.

-''Actually, Po.'' Viper started. ''I'm just glad that you're okay.'' The others agreed loudly.

-''Well, I'm not okay actually…'' Po started, having everyone gasp. ''I'm feeling super good! And that is thanks to all of you, my friends, my love and… a soon to be friend.'' Po then threw in, referring to Kajirn, who just returned it with a smile.

Suddenly, before anyone got a chance to say anything more, loud screams were heard outside.

-''What the-'' Monkey started to swear as the screams increased in volume. Then, the front doors to the temple were blasted open, and in strode a very familiar person.

-''Well, well, well…'' the figure said. ''I knew that cooperating with Lord Shen would turn out as a good decision. Am I ruining the party?''

-''It can't be…'' Shifu whispered.


	6. Defying Laws and Thinking of New Plans

-''It... It can't be...'' Shifu stammered as his once-pupil and after life long enemy stepped into the hall of the great Panda Temple. Every single one of them, especially Po, gasped in shock. Shifu just stared at the snow leopard situated in front of him.

-''But… You… How… When… Why?'' Po tried to make his tongue spit out the right words, but it was somewhat difficult.

-''Surprised to see me, Dragon Warrior?'' Tai Lung asked with a voice that was dripping with sarcasm. He was actually surprised that no one had tried to jump him yet.

-''Not really.'' Kajirn answered for Po's part, the panda too stunned to talk properly. Tai Lung chuckled and looked at the young male tiger.

-''Oh, what's this?'' Tai Lung said, sounding sort of enthusiastically. ''A new recruit?'' The enthusiastic tone quickly turned into a very cocky one.

Kajirn cleared his throat. ''I'd watch my mouth if I were you, Tai.'' He said, not moving a muscle. Tai Lung then raised his face and laughed loudly.

-''What are you going to do, kitten? Slap me across the face with your little paws?'' Even though the two were nearly the same length, Tai Lung was a lot bulkier.

No one even reacted when Kajirn suddenly turned into a dizzy blur, extremely quickly skittering across the floor towards Tai Lung. He then launched multiple quick, powerful strikes at the old enemy. Tai Lung staggered slightly as the dizzy blur once again turned back into Kajirn, standing back at his previous spot.

-''That was… impressive.'' Tai Lung snickered as he recovered fully from Kajirn's onslaught. He then growled loudly, and then used a similar technique that Kajirn had used, only more powerful. Kajirn barely managed to deflect the first strikes, but the following were too much to guard against. Tai Lung's fists bashed Kajirn's gut several times, over and over, one after the other. Kajirn was launched backwards into a wall with a grunt.

-''Anyone else wants to flex their muscles against me?'' Tai Lung shouted, sounding very self-confident. He barely had time to finish his sentence before Crane lounged at him.

Crane launched several different quick strikes at the enemy while performing multiple somersaults and flips. Tai Lung danced in and started to flip around as well, deflecting all of Crane's strikes. Crane launched strike after strike, flip after flip, but Tai Lung was too powerful. He either blocked or deflected every single one of Crane's attacks. He sent the bird away with a well placed quick in the chest.

Just then, Po broke out of his paralysis. He hesitated for a few seconds before attacking. To Po's delight, everyone fell in behind him, joining in on the attack.

But Tai Lung was ready. First, he grabbed Po out of the air as said panda leaped towards him. Then he threw Po back at the others, who managed to avoid him.

Viper attacked first, closely followed by Monkey. She wrapped her tail around his waist, tugging back and forth in an attempt to throw him out of balance. Monkey then leaped into the air and kicked Tai Lung in the face. He staggered backwards but quickly regained balance. Viper continued her tugging and such, and now it was Mantis' turn. He jumped onto Tai Lung's back, starting to flip around on him, dealing small but powerful strikes successively. Then, Monkey jumped up into the air, preparing a heel kick.

Tai Lung then grabbed hold of Viper's throat, aggressively swinging her around. Her head knocked of Mantis off of his back with said swung snake. Mantis landed on the ground, staggered, and Viper did the same. He then lifted his eyes, seeing Monkey come back down at him. He stepped aside, and after a quick round of hand to hand fighting, Tai Lung stood up while Monkey was down on the ground.

Tai Lung then glanced over at Shifu, who stared at him with what seemed like pure hatred.

-''What's the matter, Shifu? Afraid that I beat up your students? And the mighty Dragon warrior as well?'' He teased, causing Shifu to growl. Shifu then took on a defensive state of fighting. He had done this twice before, and he didn't want to do it again.

Now, however, Po got up from the ground after being tossed. Without Tai Lung knowing about it, he quietly sneaked up behind him. When he was just a foot or so behind him, he leaped on to Tai Lung's back with a roar.

This time, however, Tai Lung wasn't prepared for the onslaught. All of his attention had, foolishly enough by said villain, been focused on Shifu. The second time he had faced his former teacher. He had won both fights, but had later been defeated by two different masters of Kung Fu. This time, he wouldn't lose against anyone. He did have to get the panda off of him first, though.

Po clung on to him with extreme strength. Then, when Tai Lung still couldn't get him off his back, he shouted to everyone else to join in. Kajirn got up from the ground as he was launched into a wall, and everyone else gathered themselves too. This was followed by a short, but explosive, fight.

-''Alright, I've had enough.'' Tai Lung said as he fought everyone that was attacking him with great effort. Po still clung onto his back, and everyone else was dealing out blows, left and right. Tai Lung wasn't bad either. He countered and blocked most of the attacks. But now he seemed to have had enough.

-''Get... OFF!'' he then screamed as he violently threw everyone away. They crashed down into the ground in different spots, and Tai Lung then cracked his neck.

-''I seem to have done what I can for the moment, but trust me, I'll be back.'' Tai Lung then snickered, and without any effort whatsoever, he simply disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Tigress just stared at the spot that he had stood a few seconds ago. Stared as she had done through this whole attack.

-''Tigress? Are you okay?'' Po asked with a very caring voice as he pulled himself up from the ground. Tigress kept just staring without even blinking. Po then lightly shook her shoulder, causing her to snap out of her staring.

-''What... How did he come back?'' she then said weakly, looking at Po with a worried expression. Viper and Crane helped each other up, along with Monkey and Mantis. Everyone had been clubbed, and some rest wouldn't be bad.

-''I... I don't know...'' Po said. ''But it has something to do with cheating.''

Shifu got up from the ground as well. He stretched and picked up the staff he had dropped during the fight. He walked over to Po, he too having a worried face expression.

-''Didn't you defeat him?'' Shifu said, almost dumbfounded. He looked at Po, and then at Tigress.

-''I did! Used the Wuxi Finger Hold on him!'' Po said, exasperated. ''How could he have survived that?

-''Ah...'' Kajirn said, apparently hurt. ''Maybe he has some kind of spell or something that reversed the effects? I've heard that The Wuxi Finger Hold only works on certain types of people. Some have a permanent effect and are trapped forever in the realm of No-Chi, but others recover from the effects, depending on the strength of their heart. Apparently, the effects works both ways, no matter if the person is good or evil.''

Shifu sighed. ''Maybe that is the case, but I don't think we should think about it too much for now. I think we should get back to the Jade Palace as soon as possible. That damned Tai Lung won't survive this time.'' Shifu then growled irritably. ''Come on, let's go home.

Everyone agreed silently as they proceeded outside, seeing all the carnage of Tai Lung's attack on the village.


	7. Regrouping, Sensitive Emotions and Bonds

-''Ah... It's good to be home!'' Mantis said as the group, somewhat shaken by the recent experience, stepped into the Jade Temple. They all gathered in the kitchen to have something to eat. Now that Po was back, there was a slight argument of who was going to cook the food. After a few seconds of throwing words back and fourth, they finally decided to let Kajirn do it. Even though they liked Po's food more, they still liked Kajirn's.

-''Man… How could Tai Lung have survived what you did to him, Po.'' Monkey said as he rubbed his back, it aching slightly from the fight. ''I mean, shouldn't that hold have completely destroyed his Chi?''

-''Yeah, I guess.'' Kajirn called over from the stove as he was making the food. ''But maybe I was right… Maybe he has recovered his Chi over the years…'' Shifu cleared his throat at the statement, openly indicating that he wasn't buying that.

-''Hey, didn't you guys notice what he said when he came into the temple?'' Viper then asked out loud. ''He said something about Lord Shen helping him? Couldn't that possibly mean that Tai Lung has like… come back to life or something?''

-''That's good thinking, Viper.'' Po noted. ''Lord Shen got crushed by that cannon. Unless he got, like, some sort of instant portable med kit of some sort…'' This comment caused a few light laughs. ''I'm not so sure he survived that.''

-''Well, whatever it was, I'm just glad that none of you got hurt. Tai Lung is stronger than ever, and he has defeated you before.'' Shifu then said with a kind of pitiful voice.

-''I… I need to get some fresh air.'' Crane then suddenly said, getting up from his seat at the table. ''I'm not feeling so good.'' The others looked at him as he slowly walked out of the kitchen. Kajirn looked as well, even more closely than the others.

-''What's the matter with him?'' Mantis asked incredulously. Shifu saw how a faint smile spread over Kajirn's lips.

-''What are you thinking about, Kajirn?'' he asked the young tiger as said Kung Fu fighter was preparing some bowls. Kajirn then looked at him while elegantly stacking the bowls on top of one another. He then chuckled light-heartedly when proceeding to fill the bowls with the flavour rich chicken.

-''Oh, I know what's with him, all right… Ya know, I didn't spend most of my childhood reading people like books.'' Kajirn explained as he placed the first bowl in front of Shifu. He then walked back to the stove and filled up all the other bowls.

-''Really? What, do you like creep into their heads and see their thoughts or something like that? Awesome!'' Po then said enthusiastically. He then looked at Kajirn with a kind of smile that a six year old boy that was going to the toy store would have.

-''Well, Dragon Warrior, not really. I simply read their face expressions and their behaviour. Depending on what is different, I can determine what the problem is. In this case... I'd say it was…'' Kajirn then paused, putting one paw one his cheek to make a parody of deep thought. ''I'd say that our dear brother is having some… feelings stirring him from the inside. In other words, he feels something special for someone, and it's bothering him. He dares not tell it, but it is troubling him.'' Kajirn explained with a calm voice. Shifu discretely eyed the Kung Fu fighter who now sat down at the table.

-''Hey, how are you feeling, Tigress?'' Po then said to the female tiger who hadn't said anything at all throughout this whole conversation.

-''Oh, Po… You can't understand…'' Tigress then responded shortly, a tone of hopelessness in her voice. She then glanced at Po, who threw a quick gaze back at her.

-''Now, I can't read that face! It's almost as if it's completely empty of emotion.'' Kajirn then said loudly. He would soon find out that this was a mistake.

Barely had Kajirn said the last words before Tigress shot him a vicious death glare. He barely had time to defend himself from Tigress' lounge, and he had even less time to deflect the strikes she was dishing out. When the others grabbed hold of Tigress, Kajirn lowered his guard. He shouldn't have done that however; One of Tigress' paws reached out and hit the left side of his face, claws out and deadly. A wound ran across Kajirn's eye as the others subdued her. Kajirn looked at his blood-stained paw. The blood dripped down onto the ground from his cheek.

-''That was unnecessary.'' Kajirn said shortly, wiping away the blood. He then ascended the stairs to the second floor, to the room that Shifu had offered him.

-''Shut up!'' Tigress spat after him as he went up the stairs. She was still struggling, but the others, especially Po, pinned her down tight. Tigress was strong, but she didn't muster the strength needed against all the others. Kajirn then disappeared out of sight, and Tigress started to sob lightly when the others released their pressure on him. The tears rolled slowly down her cheeks, soaking her fur. Without thinking, Po wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up to her feet. Tigress responded to his hug by burying her head into his neck. Po patted her back as she cried, letting it all out. Shifu and the others except for Viper sat back down at the table, mood slightly lower than before.

-''Come on, Tigress.'' Po said comforting. ''He didn't mean it.''

-''I…'' Was the only thing that Tigress' voice was able to say before breaking out into another wave of sadness. Po continued his loving embrace of her. He and Shifu then shared a face expression that said that they should all just quiet down and go to sleep. But there were still a few things that needed to be worked out first.

Crane stood and inhaled deeply on the balcony of the temple. The sun had set; leaving behind a fierce, blood red horizon to look at. On the other side of the sky, the faint silhouette of the moon was at hand. Crane sighed, not knowing of Kajirn reading his face expression and all that.

He was just about to say something to himself when he sensed some kind of movement behind him. Turning around quickly, readying his weapons, or more so his fists, he angrily growled. When he saw who it was, he immediately calmed down.

-''Oh, hi, Viper.'' He said in a tired voice. Viper crawled over to him and looked out over the horizon.

-''Beautiful, isn't it?'' she asked in an awe-struck voice. Crane silently nodded in agreement.

-''It is, I suppose…'' he then said, more sad than tired now. Viper looked at him with curiosity in her eyes.

-''What is it, Crane?'' she asked with a lot of caring in her voice. ''I can tell that something is bothering you.'' Viper looked right into Crane's eyes, and this nearly got his knees to swoon. He had always thought that Viper was beautiful, but as of late, that thought had grown into more of a feeling. Crane sighed and then fully turned to Viper. He was carrying a face expression that a blind man could read.

-''Well, Viper… I…'' Crane stuttered, not at all sure of what to say. His left wing almost automatically sought its way up to rub his neck, and he sighed several times before even thinking about getting himself to say it.

-''Come on, Crane. We've been friends for many years, you can tell me what's bothering you!'' Viper then exclaimed, trying to sound as happy as she could. When Crane then sighed again, and then nodded in a confirming manner, showing that he could somehow get himself to tell exactly what was bothering him. Tell the fact that the thing that was bothering him actually stood right in front of him.

-''Well, Viper… Before I start telling about it, you'll have to promise that you won't get angry. Do you promise?'' Crane then asked incredulously, as if he thought that she would indeed get angry.

-''I promise, Crane. You can tell me anything.'' Viper then assured him.

-''Alright… Here goes…'' Crane then inhaled deeply. ''Viper, the thing is… When I first met you, in Shifu's 'living room', if you like, I was simply stunned by your beauty. I know we were a lot younger back then than we were now, that feeling was there all the same. Throughout the years, that feeling has grown stronger, and as of the latest year, I've been thinking about you for a lot of the time. When I finally saw Tigress and Po getting together, I wanted to do the same with you, but I couldn't find the guts to tell you. I love you, Viper. I really do, and a lot at that. Maybe you don't feel the same way, but I just wanted you to know.'' Crane then finished his confession. Viper didn't do much more than stare in pure awe.

Crane closed his eyes in sadness. He then felt how a small, insignificant tear broke out through one of his eyes, and he felt it tingle his skin through his thin feathers as it rolled down his cheek. He was sure that Viper would yell or something at him. He would soon find out that he was very wrong about that.

The next thing Crane felt was Viper's warm body wrap around him. At first, he had a feeling she would squeeze him to death, but when he felt her body lightly press against his, this thought disappeared out of his head like a vapour. Viper wasn't squeezing him to death.

Viper was hugging him.

Crane tried more to overcome the shock of the outcome of this brave confession more than he tried to return the hug. When it did sink in that she as a matter of fact did hug him, he let the feeling of shock go and returned Viper's hug. He wrapped his wings around her back, pulling her closer to himself.

-''Thank you, Crane…'' Viper then murmured after a few seconds of embracement. As they pulled away from each other, they looked into each other's eyes.

-''For what?'' Crane asked as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

-''For making me realize the truth. I spent a lot of my time in my life searching for the right one for me, but I found out that I had him at my side all the time.'' Viper smiled her sweetest smile, and Crane felt like he almost drowned in it. He then closed his eyes once more. This time though, he was happy.

The next thing that happened caught him way off his guard. He hadn't been having his eyes closed for very long until he felt something press against his forehead. When he opened his eyes again, he looked right into Viper's. They were screaming out loud that she was happy, and Crane felt somehow that he was part of it.

-''I love you too, Crane. I didn't realize it back then, but now I do.'' She said as she pulled away from the kiss she had just given him. He smiled back at her, and the two accompanied each other back inside, saying goodnight outside the doors to their appropriate rooms. Everyone else was already sound asleep, and now they were going to as well.

Just before the two of them fell asleep, they thought about each other and what the future might keep in store for them.


	8. Forgiving and Showing Off New Moves

The next morning, the mood and the atmosphere in the Jade Temple was more or less the same it had been the previous evening, only Crane and Viper behaved a lot closer to each other, and there was certain carefulness between Kajirn and Tigress. Every time they looked into each other's eyes for some reason, they immediately pulled away again. Breakfast was underway, and the group was now together at the table.

-''Man…'' Monkey was the first one to break the slightly ominous silence. ''I really got some good sleep this night. How about you guys?''

-''Me too, actually. I am usually too worried of something to get enough sleep, but this time I didn't wake up or anything. I feel real good!'' Mantis then raised his voice slightly higher than usual, sounding very enthusiastic.

-''Well, we all know that, Mantis.'' Viper then said gently. ''You usually get real grumpy if you don't get enough sleep, and that doesn't happen seldom.'' This comment caused almost everyone, including Mantis himself, to laugh.

-''How about you, Shifu? Did you get enough sleep this night?'' Monkey then asked, turning to his master. Shifu simply growled lowly, sounding irritable. Po then chuckled at it.

-''He hasn't woken up yet, that's all.'' The great panda said with a smirk. This made Shifu give him a sharp jab in his side. Po bent over to one side with a grunt of pain before getting back up again.

-''What was that good for?'' Po exclaimed accusingly as he gripped his gut where Shifu had jabbed him.

-''I am awake, Po.'' He then said. ''I am just bugged by what happened in the panda village. I mean, Tai Lung more or less killed everyone there except for us… I just don't get it.'' Po winced as his parents were named as two of the killed victims. ''And he survived the hold that you used on him. I simply do not understand. When Oogway taught me about the hold, he said that one couldn't ever make it if it was used on you…'' Shifu almost trailed as one word crept into his head: Impossible.

-''I'd say that we shouldn't think so much about it.'' Crane interfered, throwing Viper a very friendly side-glance. ''It ought to give us nothing more than a headache.''

The morning passed, with a filling breakfast to grant the fighters energy. Everyone went to training shortly thereafter, and it stayed that way until evening. However, during afternoon, somehow Kajirn ended up alone in the main training room alone with Tigress. The others had gone outside for a bit.

For the first whiles, neither of them said anything. They acted as if they didn't know that the other one was there. After a time of silence had passed, Kajirn decided to move on to what he called ''The spinning branches of death''. They were created to put one's dexterity on test. Kajirn performed really well at first, but when he suddenly stopped without any reason whatsoever, Tigress threw him a very quick glance. When one of the spinning branches nailed Kajirn right in the face, sending him flying through the air and eventually crashing into the floor, Tigress stopped her own training and watched him as he slid across the floor towards her. When he stopped, she couldn't stop herself from wondering what had made him miss.

-''Hey, Kajirn, was it?'' Tigress gently asked the young tiger who was lying on the ground. ''Sorry for what I did yesterday, I didn't mean it, I just got angry and… Well…'' Tigress held her paw out in an offer to help Kajirn up. After a short moment of hesitation, Kajirn grabbed her paw and she hoisted him up to his feet. Now that they were a lot closer to each other, Tigress saw the ugly wound that her claw had left on his face.

-''It's fine, really… I'm sort of used to it.'' Kajirn mumbled as he looked down into the floor. ''But it was my fault too. I didn't know how much I hurt you when I said that you had no emotions. I'm really sorry for that.'' Tigress smiled at him.

-''It wasn't your fault, Kajirn. Not the least bit. But what did you mean when you said that you were used to it?'' She asked with a very soft voice.

It took some fishing, but Tigress finally got it out from Kajirn. It turned out that in his early teen ages, around thirteen and fourteen, he had asked a girl to go out with him on a dance, but apparently, the girl got upset and slapped him across the face, and that was pretty hard. That was the first time it had happened, but it wasn't going to be the last for that part. He explained how Tigress' claw had hurt, but in a different manner.

-''That's pretty sad…'' Tigress murmured as Kajirn finished telling her the story. Kajirn was still a little sad about the fact that he had been rejected so roughly, but he said that he had gotten over it. Tigress didn't quite believe that.

-''But why did those girls reject you, Kajirn? I mean, don't take this wrong, but you look really good. If I didn't already have Po, I'd gladly accept you.'' Tigress explained to her shocker friend. ''You know what?'' She then asked sort of slyly. Kajirn slowly shook his head.

-''I think I want to help you to find some kind of girlfriend. Po and I are together, and from what I've heard, Crane and Viper are together as well. Neither Monkey nor Mantis wants any, but you do, I take? Why should you be different?'' Tigress almost cooed as if she tried to comfort the young fighter.

-''Well, no need to hurry. My mom taught me many things, and one of those things is patience. If you don't have any patience, you aren't going to get far in this life. That's why I never rush things. And that applies to fighting too. Use patience to find a weakness in your opponents defences. When you have found it, strike, and your enemy will go down before you know it.'' Kajirn said to the female Kung Fu fighter.

-''Well, no offense.'' Tigress chuckled. ''I've been in this business for quite some time. I don't think that you can teach me anything.''

-''You should always keep your mind wide open. There's always something new to learn.'' Kajirn said shortly while looking at a training dummy standing by a wall. He then thought of an idea that would probably impress Tigress. He cleared his throat shortly, once again gaining Tigress' attention.

-''Let me demonstrate what I mean.'' Kajirn said as he pointed at the training dummy. ''Can you move that closer to me, please?'' Tigress didn't know what he was going to do, but she still did as he asked and moved the dummy so that it was now standing only a few feet away from Kajirn.

-''What are you going to do, Kajirn?'' Tigress asked curiously.

-''You'll see.'' Kajirn said shortly. ''Now, if you may, please step aside. I'll need some room to move in order to do this.'' Tigress took a few steps backwards, giving Kajirn the room that he needed. Kajirn slowly stretched some of his muscles before doing something that Tigress had never seen in his entire life.

At first, nothing happened. Tigress kept looking on patiently while waiting for Kajirn to pull off his move. When a few minutes had passed, she almost considered walking up to him and shaking his shoulder, but when Kajirn mumbled something, she pushed the thought out of the way.

Then, it happened. Kajirn started to float upwards slowly, gaining a few inches every second. When he had ascended around ten feet or so, he was about halfway up to the roof.

-''Behold!'' Kajirn then boomed with an unnaturally dark voice. He then mumbled some kind of command word that Tigress didn't understand. Before long, some kind of blue light appear, circling Kajirn. Eventually, the blue light formed a perfect sphere around Kajirn, and after that, it seemed as if it turned to water. The blue light became aquatic in front of Tigress' eyes. She gaped in awe as the blue water finally settled still around Kajirn, who was still airborne.

With another sort of command word, the blue water was set ablaze. Kajirn then started to descend, and the blue water that had surrounded him before had now turned into some kind of fire. Tigress had never seen anything of the liking, and it was a completely new experience. Eventually, the fire completely engulfed Kajirn, hiding everything that he was away from Tigress. He now looked like a person made out of fire.

Kajirn then raised an arm, his arm pointing outwards, towards the training dummy Tigress had placed. A stream of liquid fire broke out from his palm, heading for the dummy. The fire then made contact with the dummy, and the wood started to melt in front of her eyes. She gasped, almost not believing what she saw. Kajirn then descended completely, his feet touching the ground. He stopped the liquid fire and then turned to Tigress.

Before she could react, Kajirn blasted a ball of blue fire from his fist. It whizzed through the air, flying past Tigress' head with just a few inches of distance between. Tigress quickly swayed to one side as the fireball flew by. Kajirn chuckled slightly. Then, with one sweeping motion with his arm, all of the fire disappeared, including off of himself. It was as if he had never used it.

-''The Avatar of Blue Fire. Works in all situations.'' Kajirn smiled as he reverted back to his normal form.

-''As seldom as I say this... That was awesome.'' Tigress said enthusiastically while complimenting Kajirn's move. ''Where did you learn it, Kajirn?''

-''Well...'' Kajirn began. ''I learned it from a templar in one of the villages I passed through on my way here. I had helped to ward of a bandit attack on the village, and as thanks, the templar offered to teach me the move. It's really useful, but I'm telling you, it was a hell of a pain to learn it. It took several weeks just to achieve the concentration you need to have in order to use it. Then, it took almost a year for me to use it in combat properly.'' Kajirn explained to his amazed friend.

-''Kajirn, just one question.'' Tigress then said, sounding like she was wondering about something.

-''Yeah, go ahead. Ask me anything you want.'' Kajirn responded in a friendly tone.

-''Well... Where do you come from? I mean, you said that you came here from a faraway place. Why didn't you stay in your old home?'' At this question, all the happiness that had been present in Kajirn's face was now gone, and replaced with a distinct sadness.

-''None of your business.'' He then snarled, turning his back. Tigress was shocked at this, but before she had the chance to say anything back, Shifu came bursting into the hall.

-''Tigress, and Kajirn! We have to go! There is an attack on a nearby village, and their population are very skilled craftsmen. We can't let any bandits get their hands on equipment like that.'' The small red panda explained to the two warriors.

-''We are ready. Where are the others?'' Kajirn said before Tigress had a chance to say anything.

-''They are already outside, waiting for you. Shall we go?''

-''Yeah.'' Tigress then said quickly, throwing a quick glare at Kajirn before proceeding outside.

**(A/N: Sorry if this chapter is worse than usual. My previous one accidently got deleted, and I'm fuming because of that. Anyhow, here's the chapter that you've been waiting for, and I hope you enjoy.)**


	9. A New Attack and Revelations

-''Alright, let's go!'' Po shouted enthusiastically as Tigress and Kajirn accompanied Shifu back to the Furious Five. ''Those bandits will

never know what hit them! Yeah, that's right, a cloud of furious black and white! Haha!'' Po did his best to share the energy he had inside, and it seemed to work.

-''They sure won't, Po. Not after we are done with them.'' Monkey added to his friend's statement.

-''Yeah, it'll be like… Uh…. Za-za-zing!'' Mantis shouted in a mock war call as the group started to walk down the road that led to the village.

-''Oh man, I am so pumped; I'll be able to take on, like… Fifty bandits!'' Po yelled as the Jade Temple was behind them. The journey to the village itself wouldn't take more than a few minutes if one hurried. They started to run as the Palace faded behind them.

Meanwhile, in the village itself, the guards that Master Shifu had placed in each village after Lord Shen's attack were right now fighting a large group of skilled wolf fighters. Apparently, now that it seemed that the two greatest villains of all time were working together, and it seemed that Shen's forces were back, hungry for revenge. This time, however, no one had the slightest idea of what they were doing. Apparently, there seemed to be something in this village that someone would really want.

A really big and tough gorilla, apparently the leader of the pack, then rather forcefully grabbed a fairly small pig by the throat.

-''All right, spit it out. Where is the orb?'' The gorilla said rather rudely while tightening his grip on the pig's throat. The pig did his best to break free, but he was far too weak to even budge the gorilla's paw off of his throat.

-''What orb? What are you talking about?'' The pig did his best to defend himself.

-''Don't try to play games with me! The Almighty One said that it was here!'' The Gorilla roared in the pig's face. When the pig still didn't respond, the gorilla broke his neck with one swift move of his arm.

-''Fine, then. I guess we'll have to tear the village down from bottom to top to find what we are looking for.'' The gorilla then turned to the large group of wolves that were still pillaging the village.

-''Alright, listen up, you scoundrels. I was trying to be nice and ask where the Orb was, but they just threw it back into my face. So how about we destroy this village one brick at a time until we find what we are looking for?'' To this, the large group roared loudly and now started to literally tear the houses apart.

The Furious Five, Po and Kajirn arrived shortly thereafter. With a howl, Po flung himself at one of the wolves, landing on it and thus knocking it out cold.

-''What the-'' the next wolf Po beat up shortly exclaimed before he was knocked out. Tigress then caught up along with the rest of the Five. The guards of the village had been overwhelmed by far, and a lot of bodies were lying on the ground.

-''Gah, it's the Dragon Warrior!'' the gorilla exclaimed. Then, when he saw Kajirn, he shouted loudly in what almost seemed to be horror. ''No, not you! Why do I have to deal with you again? Damn you, Karjak!''

-''Karjak?'' Po then asked, confused as he swiftly beat up two other wolves.

-''I'll explain when we are done here.'' Kajirn said shortly, quickly joining the fight. Kajirn was really good in the fight. He did not take one single blow; he either blocked or dodged all of the attacks.

-''Argh! Do I have to do everything myself?'' the gorilla then roared, entering the fight. Viper was fighting two wolves on each side of her, and Monkey and Mantis were busy with another gang of wolves. Tigress fought alongside Crane. The Kung Fu fighters did a real good job in fighting the enemy.

-''Alright, either you give me what I want…'' The Gorilla roared, sounding very annoyed. ''Or I will kill you all. Now, will you obey?'' He barely had time to finish the sentence before Kajirn lunged at him. Dodging the first few attacks, the gorilla threw back some accurate punches of his own. Only one of them hit, and that hit wasn't a very good one. Kajirn leapt through the air and landed on the opposite side of the huge ape.

-''I see that you have practised, Coran.'' Kajirn said in a doubtlessly teasing voice. The gorilla snarled and flung one of his fists at Kajirn, who anticipated the attack and used the opportunity to sharply jab him in the ribs. The gorilla quickly put one of his hands on the place Kajirn had hit.

-''Anything to keep you at bay the next time we meet, Karjak.'' Coran replied, punching some more. This time, one of the strikes hit Kajirn in one of his legs. Kajirn staggered slightly before recovering. Then, Coran said something that really shocked everyone watching the fight. All of the wolves were either down or out, and Kajirn had sternly told his Kung Fu friends to stay back and let him take care of this.

-''For being a God, you fight rather measly.'' The gorilla then performed a surprisingly agile somersault, followed by a powerful kick to which Kajirn responded to with a roll to one said. He then jumped into the air and landed a kick in the back of Coran's head.

-''I would not talk loudly about that if I was you. And one more thing. You can tell Xiton that he'll never get his hands on the Orbs. I swear that I will protect this world from you.'' Kajirn then responded with a snarl and sharply jabbed Coran in the ribs once again. Coran covered the rib that had been hit before roaring.

-''I am tired of this.'' He said shortly before pulling one of his fists into the air. He then let it come down with a surprising power into the ground. The ground started to shake, and several cracks along the ground started to spread out, and then it seemed like the ground had exploded. As if someone had placed dynamite just under the surface and then detonated it all.

-''Boss! I found the Orb!'' one small, crooked wolf then said, emerging from one of the partially destroyed houses. Coran looked over at the wolf and laughed.

-''Excellent. Now let's get out of here!'' The wolf handed the orb to the gorilla. ''Thank you. Expect to be credited by The Almighty.'' Coran then grabbed hold of the wolf and then jumped over a chasm, disappearing.

Back at the village, the smoke that had appeared from what seemed to be an earthquake dispersed, revealing the gang of fighters staggered on the ground. Kajirn silently cursed under his breath.

-''Damnit! He got away again! Agh!'' he then shouted as he overlooked the damage done to the village. He then turned to The Five, looking rather disappointed.

-''Come on, get up. We need to get back to the Jade Palace as fast as possibly. Xiton is a powerful enemy, and if he gets his hands on those Orbs, we can kiss this world goodbye.'' Kajirn explained rather roughly. The Five slowly got up from the ground, still slightly shaken by the recent fight. The limp forms of wolves littered the shattered ground.

-''Hang on, hang on here just for one second.'' Po then said angrily. ''We want answers. How do you know that gorilla? Who is Xiton? And most of all, why did he say that you were fighting rather measly for a God?'' Kajirn looked at Po in a way that could almost be identified as flat and unfriendly.

-''Well…'' Kajirn began, sighing. ''I believe it is time for me to tell you who I really am.'' With those words, Kajirn made a gesture with his arms, and suddenly a very sharp, bright light appeared out of nowhere, blinding everyone that was watching. When the light disappeared, in Kajirn's place stood someone that no one had seen before. The strange thing was, however, that you couldn't identify the figure as anything.

-''Greetings, mortals. I am the god Karjak. The one who created Kung Fu, and also one of those who created this world.'' The figure said in a very warm and kind voice. The Kung Fu fighters just stared. ''I am also the God of friendship, love and brotherhood. My brother Oogway has walked among you. You are blessed Kung Fu fighters, and you must help me defeat the evil god Xiton who seeks to destroy this whole world and everything that lives. He has brought both Tai Lung and Lord Shen back to life, and they are working for him now. I can not walk among you in this form, so I will turn back into the one you all know.'' The same light appeared once again, and when it was gone, Kajirn stood where he had before.

-''I… I don't believe my eyes…!'' Mantis stuttered. ''A real Kung Fu God!'' Mantis had just said what had been on everyone's tongues. The next thing they did was to bow respectfully.

-''Rise, Mantis. And all of you as well. I am not more worthy than you are. That is what Brotherhood builds on.'' Kajirn said in his friendly and kind voice. Po smiled at the male tiger. He then stepped in front of Kajirn and bowed once again.

-''We are at your service. And if it not too much to ask for, we should maybe eat something, I'm pretty hungry.'' Everyone laughed at Po's statement.

-''You are right, Dragon Warrior. We will go back to the Jade Palace and have a well earned meal.'' With those words, the group started walking back to the Jade Palace.

**(A/N: Sorry if this is a bit short, although it does cover a lot in the story.)**


	10. Godly Business and A New Enemy

-''So, how is the godly world?'' Viper asked curiously as she chewed and swallowed another dumpling that Po had served. The one who everybody has come to know as Kajirn, a young and experienced fighter, actually turned out to be Karjak, the God who was believed to have created Kung Fu along with Master Oogway, his brother. This came as quite a shock for the group of Kung Fu fighters, especially Master Shifu.

-''Well…'' Karjak began shortly as he ate up another dumpling. ''It's not as godly as you may think, Master Viper. We Gods fight, argue and yell just as much as you here in the mortal do. As a matter of fact, one of the lesser Gods, my cousin, tried to steal one of my belongings. After I had caught him, I had to literally use some tweezers to get it out from him. He was that stubborn!'' Karjak chuckled slightly after telling the short story. ''I haven't caught him stealing ever since, and that was a mighty thousands of years ago.''

-''Wow. So, there are like, god Gods, bad Cops, like that?'' Po then exclaimed excitedly as he pictured the thought within his head.

-''You have no idea how right you are, Dragon Warrior.'' Karjak started to sound more serious now. ''My brother, Xiton, is the God of pretty much everything that is destruction, and he seeks to destroy this entire universe and bring about oblivion. He has tried that once already, and we stopped him. His underling Coran, a lesser god, decided then to try and gather up the four Orbs of elements to grant Xiton enough power to defeat the Gods who were on my side. Luckily, I managed to win a hand-to-hand against him, and he has feared me ever since. Now, it's not like any of the other Gods hasn't feared me, but his fear grew greater than everybody else. In our fight at the craftsmen's village, he tried to sound brave and strong, but he was really…''

-''Scared shitless? That is awesome!'' Po then interrupted.

-''Well, that's a phrase that could describe it.'' The God then replied shortly, placing two dumplings at a time in his mouth.

-''But what happened to Xiton? Did he just give up after Coran failed?'' Mantis then asked. Shifu then decided to join in on the conversation.

-''Legend says that he fought one last fight, which he lost. He was then banished to a place called ''The Underworld''. There he was to stay for the remainder of the millennium. He promised to stay calm, but now he is at it again, stronger than ever.''

-''That is correct.'' Karjak confirmed Shifu's statement. ''Xiton was beat in his final fight, and he swore revenge. When he had done his time in prison, he gave a promise that he would keep to his end of the world, but apparently, that was a lie.''

-''Aw, come on! You never trust a bad guy who says something like that!'' Monkey then exclaimed, earning a compassionate look from Karjak.

-''Perhaps you are right, Master of the Monkey Style. Maybe he did blow us. Like Po did when he distracted you with a piece of wood and Mantis and then stole your almond cookies.'' At this statement, Monkey immediately went into some kind of state that heavily utilized denying in stuttering. When he realized that he was beaten, he quickly quieted down and felt some kind of blush creep on his face. Everyone, including Karjak, laughed loudly.

-''That was fairly funny.'' Tigress said shortly, speaking for the first time at the table.

-''Yeah, I had always pictured Gods as grumpy, dry-humored pouting old men!'' Crane then said slightly exaggeratingly, earning a friendly glare from the God.

-''Well, even though I am a God, I know how to have fun, Master King of the Air. And I am certainly not a grumpy old man who does not know how to tell jokes!'' Karjak shouted playfully. Everyone was having a good time.

-''Ah, the soup is done!'' Po then said enthusiastically as he got up from his seat and went over to the stove. He had to mind not stepping on Tigress' tail.

-''Man, am I looking forwards to this!'' Mantis said as he clapped his hands together.

-''Totally.'' Tigress and Viper said in unison as Po came back to the table, a set of bowls in his arms.

-''I'll assure you, Mighty One…'' Viper began, already having grabbed a spoon. ''Po is a really good cook.'' Karjak let a smile appear on his lips as he slowly put a spoon of the famous soup in his mouth.

The taste was incredible. Karjak felt like he hadn't ever eaten something nearly half as good as this soup before.

-''Oh man!'' Karjak said, sounding very delighted. ''And here I think my sister has good cooking, just look at this!'' Karjak almost literally threw the soup into his mouth, spoon by spoon.

-''Seems like somebody likes your food, Po.'' Tigress said in an encouraging voice. Po smiled at her before sitting down again.

-''Now, after we have eaten our food, let's get back to training.'' Master Shifu announced as he finished his bowl of soup. The other masters and the God nodded in understanding as they started to finish theirs as well.

Meanwhile, in a large small cave a long way from the Jade Palace, a very familiar snow leopard met up with a just as familiar peacock. The peacock was wearing a white rob with a wide robe that was covering his face. Almost all his body was covered in metal and a sharp, curved looking dagger was emitted from a small holster-like appendage hanging from the peacock's waist.

-''Hello, dear friend.'' Tai Lung snickered as he leaned against one of the cave walls.

-''Enough chit-chatting already.'' Shen snarled as he unsheathed the small dagger, which turned out to be a very long sword with a serrated edge. ''Where's Rat?'' Tai Lung laughed loudly.

-''You think I'm just going to throw him over to you? Just like that? He works for me, Shen, and no one else.'' Shen growled, dangerously barring the long sword.

-''You better watch yourself, bastard. You're playing with dangerous forces. Now, I ask again. Where. Is. Rat?''

Tai Lung kept chuckling silently. He then called something out loud.

-''Rat, you stinking rodent! Get out here! You have a visitor!'' Tai Lung yelled. Seconds later, a small rodent came out of one of the small side tunnels. He had a long nose, short brown fur, short pointy bent ears as well as being very skinny.

-''You called me, Master?'' Rat said weakly as he walked up to Tai Lung. Tai Lung gave him a light smack across the back of his head, causing him to grunt slightly in pain.

-''Rat, I'd like you to meet Lord Shen. He is an evil, twisted psychopath who doesn't know what thinking is.'' Tai Lung said with a mock friendly voice.

-''Very funny.'' Shen scoffed as he looked at the small rodent. ''Alright, listen. Since you are apparently of no use whatsoever in any kind of fighting, you are going on a little 'stealth' mission. Obey, and you'll get rewarded. Refuse, and get killed. How does that sound?'' Shen said in what sounded like a very threatening voice.

-''I-I'm listening.'' Rat said weakly, doing his best to conceal his fear. Shen walked over to the small rat and placed the tip of his sword-like weapon at the rat's throat.

-''Okay, the mission is simple.'' Lord Shen began with some kind of mock enthusiasm in his voice. ''I want you to sneak into the Valley of Peace, and infiltrate yourself into the Jade Palace. Try to offer your services, and they'll let you in for sure. Then, as you spend time with those ridiculous Kung Fu fighters, make sure that you find out all of their secrets, all their weaknesses, everything. What they are planning.'' Shen then grabbed Rat by his throat with one sharp wing. ''Are we clear?'' he asked.

-''Y-Yes, Lord Shen! Clear as crystal!'' Rat swallowed in fear but did a pretty good job in concealing it. ''But how will I get them to believe me?''

-''Use that sharp tongue of yours, that's the only good thing you have.'' Lord Shen snarled as he forcefully pushed Rat towards the cave entrance. ''Now go, and don't return until you have all of their secrets.'' Shen watched as Rat stumbled towards the exit of the cave.

Back at the Jade Palace, the entire gang was gathered in the Training Hall. Monkey and Crane were currently sparring against each other on the Jade Bowl, and Po went through agility courses along with Viper and Tigress. Mantis was occupied in training his reflexes by using a machine that threw ninja stars at him.

Shifu was watching over all of the students alongside with Karjak.

-''They are evolving well.'' Karjak said shortly to no one in particular. Karjak nodded in agreement but a trace of disappointment in his voice.

-''They are, but they need to raise the tempo. At this rate, it'll take forever for them to learn anything more.'' He then raised his voice. ''Come on now, students. You'll need to raise the tempo if you're going to learn anything at all! Mantis, you'll need to deflect those projectiles more accurately in order to use the move properly. Tigress, you need to increase your speed. Xiton's forces have great ferocity and you'll need to counter it with speed. That goes for you too, Viper. Agility beats strength. Come on!'' Karjak shouted with his warm voice. It seemed that his energy spread out to the training students, because at once it seemed like their tempo increased several times over.

-''Whoa… Where did I get all that energy from?'' Monkey asked, feeling his energy rapidly increase. Monkey's punches and kicks increased in strength, speed and also quantity. Crane could also feel it, the energy surging through his body, not only restoring lost energy but increased it as well. The battle between the primate and the bird heated up quickly, and none of them even decreased on the tempo.

-''Come on, Po. Keep going.'' Viper said to Po, whose tempo had started to decrease very slightly. When the energy reached him as well, he immediately sped up his actions, wondering where the energy had come from.

When the day had ended, every single Kung Fu fighter was exhausted. The energy that Karjak had given them had run out, and physical effort took out its rights. At dinner, everyone ate with great appetite.

-''Wow. I've almost never trained this hard in my whole life for a complete day.'' Tigress exhaled as she was still very tired from the intense training. Po had proceeded to cook the food, just as usual.

-''I am proud to call you my friends. Tomorrow, you will not be forced to go through training again.'' As for me, I must go back to the Godly realm, but worry not. I'll be back in the early morning.'' Karjak announced before starting on the pre-meals consisting of dumplings and tofu. The rest of the dinner, everyone talked and told jokes and such with great friendship.

When it was time to go to sleep, Po found that it was pretty hard to do so. Ever since he confessed his love to Tigress, he had felt closer to her than ever before. And as the great panda was thinking about Tigress, said feline was just standing in front of Po's door.

-''Oh, come in.'' Po said as he heard knocking at the door. Tigress slowly opened the door and stepped into the small room.

-''Hi, Tigress! Do you want anything?'' Po asked kindly, motioning for Tigress to sit down on the bed beside him. She did so with a smile and then sighed, still feeling tired. Po was then pretty shocked as Tigress placed her head on Po's chest. Slightly, only very slightly, Po wrapped one arm around the lithe tiger.

-''Can't I just say hi to the one I love? Or have you forgotten that already?'' Tigress asked with a fairly serious tone in her voice.

-''Of course not. I could never forget one like you.'' Po then placed one gentle kiss on Tigress' forehead, to which she responded to with a kiss right back on his lips. Eventually, the kiss grew passionate and the two Kung Fu fighters had a duel with their tongues, battling the other one for dominance over the territory.

Eventually, they parted the kiss in need of air, and their rapid breathing now broke the silence.

-''I love you, Po.'' Tigress said as she kissed him again on his cheek.

-''I love you too, Tigress.'' Po said and hugged her for one last time. Then, she quietly left the room.

**(A/N: Usually, I don't place authors notes here, but there is a small reference in this story. **

**Shen's body has been covered in metal. What is it a reference to? The first one who answers correctly will be mentioned in the next chapter. Not that it's much, I just thought it would be fun.)**


	11. Nightmares and Comforting

-''Po, get away from him!'' Tigress shouted as Po started to climb up a ledge to where Lord Shen was situated. Po wasn't intending on listening however, and it wasn't even sure that he even heard her calling out to him.

Po climbed up over the edge, seeing Lord Shen backing away from it. He then flung a kind of fork he had in his paw up into the air and whacked it with the frying pan he had in his other when it came back down. The fork-like thing whizzed through the air towards Lord Shen, catching his throat and pinning him to the wall behind him.

-''I want answers, Shen!'' Po then shouted angrily as the peacock released himself from the pinning fork. He then turned to face Po.

-''So, you want to know? Do you think that knowing will heal you? Well, then…'' Shen paused, slicing apart some wooden planks that were covering something. It turned out to be a very big firework cannon. ''Then let me heal you!'' With those words, Lord Shen lit the fuse of the great cannon. But the cannon didn't get enough time to fire however, because Po did something that Lord Shen did not expect.

-''Disc of Destruction!'' He shouted as he threw the pot he was holding very much like a Frisbee. The pot flew through the air and effectively put out the fuse. Before Shen could light it again, however, Po had run up to the cannon and jumped up on it.

-''I have to say, panda. You are very stubborn!'' Shen growled as he stealthily pulled out a couple of daggers from beneath his feathers. Then, with high speed, he flung the daggers at the unsuspecting panda. Po, however, dived down to the ground, just barely avoiding them. He then got up and got close to Shen.

-''Can't you just tell me? Just tell me what happened that night in our village!'' Po still sounded very angry. Shen then drew his long, curved blade out from under his robe.

-''Alright, you win, panda. I believe it went something like this!'' Shen then lunged at Po with the blade pointing outwards, aiming for Po's throat.

Po managed to, by pure reflex, sway to one side and countered the attack, punching Shen in his side. Shen staggered slightly but quickly regained his balance. He then flipped through the air, seeking to bury the blade into Po's skull. Po managed to guard himself in time and harmlessly deflected the blade with the back of his palm.

Tigress had managed to shake of the gorillas that were holding her up and she was now running full speed to where Po and Shen were fighting. She was soon to witness something that would completely destroy her heart.

Shen pulled off a very agile move in which he first slashed at Po, who dodged the first attack, and then somersaulted over him. It was then that Shen performed the move that would take the panda's life.

He swung his blade and threw a couple of daggers at the same time. Po tried his best to counter the attack, but one of the daggers caught his shoulder, almost to a point where you could describe it as drilling. Po groaned loudly in pain as he gripped hold of the dagger in his shoulder hurrying to yank it out.

Shen then kicked him in the chest just after he managed to rid of the knife. Po stumbled backwards and Shen took the opportunity to stab him with his blade. Po tried to guard himself, but Shen was too quick. The peacock's blade forcefully made its way into the panda's ribcage, puncturing one of his lungs in the meantime.

Just as he was about to stab him for a second time, Tigress leaped up to the ledge and then onto the cannon. Shen noticed the movement from out the corner of his eye, and he turned around swiftly.

-''Ah, I was beginning to wonder when you were going to turn up!'' Shen said in mock happiness. ''And now, you can watch your friend die!'' Tigress growled and was just about to lunge at Shen, but he flew away before she could.

Her attention now switched to Po, who was lying still on the large hub of the cannon. She immediately fell down to one knee as he grabbed Po's paw. Said panda was breathing rapidly as the blood flowed from the wounds on his body.

-''It's okay, it's alright, Po. I'm here. You're going to be alright.'' Tigress had held as a standard to not show emotion on the battlefield, but in this case, she could not help it. Po was the person that meant more to her than everyone else, even Shifu.

-''T-Tigress…'' Po whispered with a very weak voice. ''Stay with me…''

-''Don't worry, Po. I'd never leave you.'' Tigress hadn't really realized it just yet, but the tears had started to rapidly flow down her cheeks from her eyes. Po gently grabbed hold of her paw with his other one.

-''Tigress… Take care of the valley, and everyone else, too…'' Po's voice grew weaker by the second as more and more blood left his body. ''And I just wanted to say… That I've always loved you. Ever since… I laid eyes on you, your beauty stunned me. Ever since I saw you on a poster on a shop's wall at the age of eleven have I loved you, and I'll always will.'' Po said as bravely as he could, and Tigress then saw how tears were produced in his eyes as well.

-''I love you too, Po…'' Tigress said, feeling her heart shatter by the fact that Po would not make it.

-''And when I'm gone…'' Po grunted in pain. ''Don't forget about me.'' Po then weakly reached up and touched where Tigress' heart sat. ''I'll always… live inside you, in your heart.'' With that last sentence, Po's paw turned limp as it slowly fell back down to his chest. Then, his eyes slowly closed as the last remnants of life left his body.

He was dead.

Tigress refused to believe it. The one and only person that had a place in her heart was now gone, and Tigress hadn't ever experienced a similar feeling before. It was as if someone had torn out her heart and replaced it with a big piece of nothingness.

-''NO!'' Tigress then shouted as she flew up into a sitting position. Witnessing Po's death, which was a guaranteed one, was more painful than anything else she had ever experienced.

She immediately calmed herself when she saw that she was in her bedroom. She saw the plaque on the wall with Master Oogway's famous saying ''Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is mystery, but Today is a gift''. Her wardrobe with her close also stood in its normal spot, and nothing was out of position or in a way it shouldn't be. Tigress found that she was breathing rapidly; cold sweat was flowing down her forehead at an alarming health. Her heart was beating way quicker than normal.

-''Tigress? What's the matter?'' she then heard Po's voice ask her just outside her door. She didn't answer at first; she did her best to slow down her breathing and calm down.

-''Tigress?'' Po asked again. Tigress felt her heart rate slow down once again.

What a nightmare.

-''Y-Yeah, I'm here…'' Tigress just barely said loud enough for Po to hear her.

-''Um… Can I can in?'' He then asked sort of sheepishly. Tigress shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the remnants of that nightmare.

-''Yes, come in.''

Po slowly and quietly opened the door to her room, Stepping in; he swiftly closed the door behind him with his foot. It made a quiet, whining noise as it closed. Po then slowly walked over to Tigress, who was still sitting on her bed, breathing slowly but loudly.

-''Are you…'' Po began, rubbing his neck with one paw. ''SHAKING?'' he then exclaimed with a worried tone in his voice. Tigress shivered and sighed.

She hadn't noticed it just yet, but Tigress was in fact shaking. Her arms were rapidly swaying back and forth slowly, just as her legs. Her teeth almost chattered. She behaved as one would do if they were caught in a snow storm.

-''Po…'' Tigress stuttered, still severely shaken from her recent experience. ''Po, I…'' She couldn't manage herself to continue the sentence, and she remained silent as Po patiently awaited the answer.

-''Tigress, did you dream something? I heard you scream and-'' Po was interrupted as Tigress flung herself at him, arms wrapping around his neck. She started to cry loudly.

-''Po… I had a nightmare! And, and, and Shen… He, he…'' Tigress was rapidly becoming hysteric. Po rubbed her back and whispered comforting words. ''Shen killed you, Po! He, he, he… Killed you!''

-''Tigress, it's alright… It was just a dream.'' Po kept comforting her as he proceeded to kiss her forehead. Tigress shivered and didn't release Po even one bit. She needed to have him real close right now, to assure her that he was still with her.

-''Po… I wouldn't know what I would do if I lost you…'' She then whispered in his ear, still shaking slightly.

Po then slowly pulled away from Tigress, looking her deep in the eyes.

-''I will never leave you, Tigress. Never ever in my whole life will I leave you,  
trust me on that.'' Po then said to her slowly, making sure that it sunk in properly, reassuring her that he would indeed stay with her forever.

Tigress then shivered slightly again, the tears ceasing to fall.

-''I love you so much, Po. Like I said, I wouldn't know what to do if I lost you.'' Tigress then sighed and quivered because of the recent crying. She then looked at Po again, smiled broadly and kissed him on the lips.

Meanwhile, in the training hall, Shifu was watching over the rest of the Furious Five as they trained and practiced on different moves. Monkey had just developed a new technique which Po had called ''Cyclone of Immobilization''. Apparently, it involved some kick of some sort that hit a critical nerve point which effectively immobilized the victim. In just a few days, he had trained at using it on other Kung Fu masters, and it had turned out quite effective. The only thing he needed to work on now was the accuracy of the attack, seeing as it could be evaded without a lot of effort at all.

Karjak stood at Shifu's side, closely watching the different moves of the fighters, seeing if he could find any weaknesses in their fighting patterns. If he could find any, he would tell them so that they could be even better.

-''I understand that you are proud of them, Master Shifu. These young fighters are certainly excellent fighters. They will become legends later in time.'' Karjak said, turning slowly to Shifu.

-''Yes, they are, Mighty One. And I am proud to be their master.'' Shifu replied as he bowed to the God in the tiger body. Then, Master Shifu barked an order that announced that it was time for a break for lunch. The master stopped their training, every one tired after their hard training.

-''Excellent work, students.'' Shifu greeted them as they bowed in front of him. ''Now, we'll have lunch, and you are free for the rest of the day. I need to discuss some future plans with Karjak.'' To this, the male tiger God simply responded with raising an eyebrow.

-''Do you now?'' He then said in a kind of teasing voice. Indeed Gods knew how to joke and have fun.

-''Well… It's… Uh… Mostly about how we will deal with your evil brother Xiton, Karjak. We can't go rushing in to the battle without some kind of tactic, right?'' Shifu tried his best to sound like he was someone having a great bit of responsibility, but even he couldn't hide the fact that he would like nothing else than to talk with the great God in privacy.

-''O-kay…'' Mantis said, not really believing what his master had just said. Seems like they didn't buy it.

When Shifu and Karjak had left, the five burst out into laughter.

-''Oh man!'' Monkey exclaimed, his eyes tearing of laughter. ''Did you notice how longing to talk with the God he seemed?''

-''Yeah! He acted like Po over a bowl of dumplings!'' Mantis barfed out, laughing loudly. Viper laughed loudly as well, her eyes rapidly tearing from all the laughter.

When the laughing had seized, the group proceeded to the kitchen to have some food. Shifu and Karjak had gone to the Great Hall of Warriors to talk about different things. Shifu had said that they were going to talk about plans for the future, but it was completely see-through that he wanted to ask him every single secret behind everything that is Kung Fu.

-''By the way, does anyone know where Po is?'' Crane then asked as they were proceeding to eat lunch.

-''Well, seeing as both he and Tigress are gone, it's pretty obvious that they're away somewhere, perhaps…'' Viper said in a sly voice, pausing, getting more than few thoughts within her mind. However, before anyone of them said anything more, the two that they had been talking about came down the stairs.

-''Hi, guys! I thought you might want something to eat!'' Po exclaimed happily as he went over to the stove. Tigress followed closely behind him, setting herself down on the only empty seat at the table. Po prepared the ingredients as Tigress earned some very curious eyes from her friends.

-''Tigress, what did you and Po do up there?'' Mantis asked with a sly smile as he shot Tigress some kind of weird look. Tigress just ignored both the question and the eyes and simply looked at Po, who was by now fully settled in making the food.

-''Come on, Tigress. The two of you've been up there all morning until now.'' Viper said softly, trying to get her friend to tell everything there was to tell. Monkey looked on excitedly but still patiently, waiting for Tigress to speak up, and Crane just sat and waited for the food.

-''Why do you want to now? It's not like we've done anything unusual.'' Tigress replied shortly, trying her best to hide the truth about what had happened up in Tigress' room.

-''Well, you've been up in your room the whole morning. You must have done something extra.''

Tigress sighed and realized that there was no way out of this.

-''Oh, well… Promise not to tell ANYONE, especially Shifu, alright?'' Tigress said in a pleading voice. The rest of the Kung Fu eagerly nodded their heads, assuring her that they would indeed be quiet about it. Tigress sighed in reluctance before she told the story.

-''Well, this night I didn't have any sleep at all almost, and that's because I had a nightmare…'' Tigress paused for a short moment, her heart still aching at the memory of the horrific dream. ''We were fighting Lord Shen in his factory, and, and…'' Tigress voice almost cracked significantly as she talked about it. The pain still felt so convincing, so real, that Tigress quivered just by the thought of it.

-''Yes..?'' The five said in unison as Tigress didn't continue the telling for a while.

-''And… I saw Po getting killed by Shen! He got stabbed by that horrible creature… And, that's not the worst of it!'' Tigress almost began shedding tears as she kept telling the story. ''Po died in my arms! He was dying when I found him… And then, just before life left him, he told me that he had always loved me! Can you imagine how I felt?'' Normally, Tigress felt like showing your emotion wasn't a dice in her game, but she couldn't keep that up. She simply had to let out all of the emotions that she had kept bottled up throughout all of these years.

-''Oh, man…'' Crane sighed, putting his wing on Tigress' shoulder in a comforting manner. Tigress felt her voice crack slightly as she muttered a quick ''Thanks''. ''That must have been painful.''

-''You have no idea… I thought that I had lost him forever. Luckily, it was just a stupid dream…'' Tigress sighed in sorrow once again. The dream really had a great effect on her.

-''Well, that actually doesn't explain why you were up there so long.'' Mantis asked short of annoyingly, earning a viscous glare from Viper.

-''And, well… Since I got so tired, I asked… I asked… Asked…'' Tigress felt as if she couldn't ever get herself to tell it. ''I asked Po to share my bed with me.'' When she finally said it, everyone's mouth went agape. Viper fainted and Mantis just stared, just as Monkey and Crane did. Tigress couldn't help it as a tremendous blush appeared, easily showing through her fur.


	12. Searching Plans and Yin and Yang United

**(A/N: Warning: Minor suggestive themes in this chapter!)**

-''I'll bet you half of my total almond cookie storage that we're going to hear the padding of small tiger-panda feet around in the barracks in about nine months from now!'' an enthusiastic primate shouted loudly as he was having a fast-paced, intense sparring match with an avian friend of his. While the monkey used flexible and graceful, almost playful, attacks, the bird relied more on speed and agility, dealing swift, powerful strikes. All the while this battle took place; the two friends were forced to keep their balance on an upside-down turtle shell made out of jade.

-''Sounds like you'll never quit making those bets, will you now?'' Crane asked, dodging a spinning kick that Monkey tried to use after blocking a flurry of punches from Crane.

-''Nah, what would the fun be in that?'' Monkey asked as he jumped up in the air, dealing a spinning cartwheel kick as he came back down. Crane swayed to one side, spinning his wings in a graceful cyclone at the primate in an attempt to knock him off balance. Monkey raised his arms and twisted to one side, blocking the attack. Then, he used both his legs to direct a powerful kick at Crane. Crane managed to redirect the attack, but the force behind it nearly caused him to lose his balance. As he attempted to regain it, Monkey used his tail in the air to attack, finally knocking Crane off of the jade bowl.

But Crane wasn't one to give up this easily. Just as he fell, he noticed that Monkey had landed on the spot that Crane had stood moments ago. Monkey smiled and then bowed to his comrade in respect of the victory. Big mistake.

Crane managed to get a hold of one of Monkey's legs. When the primate felt the bird's grasp around his leg, he gasped in surprise and did his best to shake free, as well as trying to jump backwards, but as the avian fell to the ground, Monkey couldn't resist the pull, and was pulled down to the ground along with his friend. They fell down to the ground side by side, both laughing happily.

-''That's what happens if you don't pay attention, Monkey.'' Shifu smiled over from his observation point, a light chuckle in his voice. Crane and Monkey both got up from the floor, bowing to each other.

-''How are you doing on your swiftness, Viper?'' Master Shifu then turned towards the master of the snake style, the female reptilian brilliantly swaying around numerous fire jets that burst up from the ground. Viper had really worked on her speed and agility; she wasn't hit a single time. ''Very good.'' Shifu then walked over to the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion, where Mantis was practicing his jumps. Shifu looked him over as he leaped around, careful at every turn to not get nailed by any of the sharp objects.

-''Good work, Mantis. Keep up your speed.'' Shifu then walked over to the area with the training dummies where Tigress was currently practicing a new technique that Shifu vaguely remembered. Shifu looked on curiously, before clearing his throat.

-''May I ask you what you are practicing, Tigress?'' He asked with a hint of pride in his voice. Tigress noticed it, and stopped attacking the dummy.

-''Alright, who are you and what have you done with Master Shifu?'' Tigress asked quietly, but still with a joking tone in her voice. Shifu gave her slightly confused look, which she picked up on. ''I mean, Master Shifu would normally scold me if I started training on something he hadn't approved of.'' Tigress became a little more serious, but the joking tone was still there.

-''Well, I talked to Karjak both yesterday as well as this morning, and he finally made me realize that I couldn't let my sorrow over Tai Lung's anger be let out on you, Tigress. So I finally decided, I need to be a lot more caring and compassionate for you, my _daughter_.'' Shifu emphasized the last word in a way that caused a surge of happiness run through Tigress' body.

_Finally, he accepts me!_

Tigress didn't think as she immediately wrapped her arms around Shifu's back, pulling him into a gentle hug. Shifu was slightly surprised; Other than Po, Tigress had never showed this kind of affection towards anyone. Eventually, Tigress broke the hug and bowed to her master.

-''Thank you, father.'' She then said, smiling at the red panda, who smiled back. Shifu then turned his attention to the group that was training.

-''Alright, students. Listen up.'' He then said loudly with his firm and strong, yet now kind voice as everyone stopped what they were doing, finishing their current move to get away from whatever station they were training at.

-''Yes, master, what is it?'' the different Kung Fu masters asked in unison as they bowed to the elderly master.

-''I've been talking about future plans with the God, Karjak, and we need to make our move fairly soon. Apparently, Xiton needs four orbs of elements in order to summon another orb, The Orb of Darkness! With it, he'll be able to undo all living things, even all the other Gods. He is using both Lord Shen and Tai Lung to find the orbs, so we must to stop him!'' Shifu explained to the masters, who took in the information, nodding as they did.

-''When will we departure, then?'' Po then asked, having listened in on the conversation from outside the training hall as he arrived from the barracks. Shifu turned around and greeted the panda.

-''Ah, Dragon Warrior, how nice of you to join us. We will have to leave in just a few days to begin our search for the Orb of Fire. Xiton already has the Orb of Wind, and so the Orb of Water and the Orb of Earth remains yet to locate.''

-''Where is this… Orb of Fire, then?'' Viper asked as she stretched her back a little. Monkey did so as well, feeling his muscles relax. Suddenly, the doors to the training hall swung open.

-''It's hidden away in a since long forgotten ruin.'' Karjak said as he stepped into the training hall, getting greetings by all of the warriors, his tiger form moving across the floor. ''More exactly known as Kujia Fort, a very old and by now abandoned stronghold a good ways north of here.'' Karjak explained.

-''So…'' Po began, his voice sounding close to what you would call excited. ''We go to a pile of rubble, grab a ball of awesomeness, and then we save the world?'' Karjak had to admit, the enthusiasm of the Dragon Warrior was truly to be credited.

-''I admire your enthusiasm, Po. Don't you agree? His energy spreads to the rest of us, right?'' Karjak then asked the group of Kung Fu warriors, getting nods and encouraging mumbles. The best thing was, however, that they weren't kidding or anything like that; Po's energy really spread to them, his enthusiasm and encouragement affecting them in a really good way.

-''Now, we will leave within three days and head out for the Kujia Fort.'' Shifu then said, crossing his arms behind his back. ''I suggest you start packing .'' With those words, the group started to head back to the barracks, Po and Tigress far ahead of everyone.

Meanwhile, faraway on a small road, a small figure was walking quite quickly. A lot of thoughts were clouding his mind, but the greatest one was the image of what Lord Shen and Tai Lung would do with him if he failed this. He gulped and then focused once again.

-''Come on, Rat. You can do this.'' He then quietly said to himself and continued to walk.

-''You know, Tigress...'' Po said as he sat on her bed, watching the feline stuff some things into a small bag made out of leather. Getting a ''Hmm?'' as a respond, he continued his sentence. ''I'm really glad I met you.'' He then finished, his voice filled with love and kindness. Tigress stopped packing temporarily, standing up. She then walked up to Po and wrapped her arms around him without a single world.

-''I'm happy to oblige.'' She then said, pulling away from the bed. Then, Po got up from the bed and pulled her back into it, starting to kiss her. Soon, the kiss had grown in passion, and both of them were moaning in the other one's mouth. Eventually, they were forced to break apart, gasping violently for air. They hugged once again, and Po kissed her cheek, causing her to start purring. Eventually, Tigress returned to packing her things and Po sat back down on the bed, doing something with his hands.

-''I… I feared something…'' Po then said out loud to no one in particular, although he had meant it for Tigress. Tigress, not stopping the packing this time, continued the conversation.

-''Were you? Of what?'' She asked curiously, elegantly putting a folded vest into place inside the leather bag. Po stuttered slightly before replying.

-''Well… I had this pain inside me, you know… that kind of pain that only a certain somebody can make go away.'' Tigress stopped packing again, but continued shortly thereafter.

-''I've never felt that kind of pain… Or at least I don't think I have.'' She then said shortly, finally wrapping the openings of the leather bag together with some skillful handling of some strings. She heaved the bag up on her shoulder and walked over to Po, who then stood up at her arrival before him.

-''I'm going to go and put these clothes away for now… We're not leaving just yet.''

The day passed quite quickly, the Kung Fu masters, the grandmaster of the Jade Palace, and also the God, had a great time together. After they had completed their training, they, like Tigress, put away the bags with the packings of their belongings in a storage room. It had been decided that they would leave within two days, heading for the Kujia Fort. However, the night was not just over quite yet… Only dusk was upon the peaceful valley, but soon something would happen.

Po yawned as he stepped into Tigress' room, the feline coming in closely behind him. Tigress closed the door behind her as she too yawned. Ever since she had that horrid nightmare, she wanted Po to share a bed with her. Not to rush things, just to make sure that she always kept him close. Po then lied down on the bed, exhaling and inhaling deeply.

-''Feeling comfortable?'' Tigress then teased, walking over to the lying panda. Po just chuckled and sat up again.

-''I want to thank you again, Tigress, for healing that pain. I honestly didn't think that I would ever get a girlfriend. Thank you.'' Po then said, sounding very serious, straying from his usually joking manner. Tigress then smiled at him before playfully shoving him down to his lying position once again on the bed. She then started to take off her outer clothes, mainly her vest and pants, leaving her only in her bra and panties. Po caught himself staring at her, his mouth hung agape. This caused Tigress to blush tremendously.

-''What?'' she then managed to tease through her giggles as the panda's gaze never leaving her.

-''You're… Well… I mean, you're… No, I mean, you're hot!'' Po then blurted out, instantly covering his mouth with his paws. Tigress simply grinned and then lied down beside Po.

However, what they both thought was going to end in falling asleep fairly quickly, instead ended with loud moans echoing throughout the barracks, followed by the sound that two bodies made when they made physical contact. After a while of said moans and sounds, an intensely loud scream of pleasure pierced the night, having been coupled with someone urging, practically begging, something or someone, to go faster.

When they were done, they both panted, and lied down beside one another.

-''I love you, Tigress…'' Po whispered as he caressed her, nuzzling her neck with his nose, allowing his warm breath to hit her fur. Tigress moaned very quietly before muttering an almost non-hearable ''Love you too.'' Before she went out like a light.


	13. Infiltrator and First Battle

The next morning, Tigress was the first one to wake up. At first, she simply opened her eyes and looked up into the ceiling, immediately purring slightly when the memories of last night's… Ahem, occurrences came into her mind. She then sat up slowly, being reminded that her lover was in her bed with her.

-''Po, sweetie, time to wake up…'' she whispered In Po's ear, causing it to twitch slightly. Then, Po opened his eyes, yawning.

-''Oh, man… I had the best dream ever…'' He said, sort of sleepily, still not fully awake yet. When Tigress understood what he referred to, she grinned and patted his shoulder.

-''Wasn't a dream, Po…'' she then said slyly, the grin still on her face. She got up from her bed and walked over to the closet where she kept all of her clothes. She then sort of hid herself behind the closet door as she changed her clothes. Po got up from the bed and walked over to the feline, his eyes still wide from what Tigress had said just a few moments ago.

-''So, we… did, you know… that?'' he then asked in a very sheepish tone. A now fully dressed Tigress stepped away from the closet, the grin still on her face.

-''Yes, we did. Don't believe me?'' Tigress then said, an almost malicious but still playful tone appearing in her firm voice. Po quickly nodded while assuring her that he always believed her. Tigress then walked over to Po, giving him a quick hug. When she pulled away, Po just as quickly kissed her cheek. She then placed her paw on his shoulder.

-''I think you should get back to your room before Shifu gets here. I don't think he is ready to find out that you are sharing a bed with me. Po nodded in understanding, saying a quick ''Gotcha'' and then proceeded to open the door leading out to the hallway of the barracks.

-''And what have you been doing?'' a voice immediately asked as Po stepped out into the hallway, making sure to not being spotted. Apparently, he did not do a very good job. Po jumped two feet into the air and then turned around to face the grandmaster.

-''Master Shifu! Uh, good morning… Master! Isn't this a wonderful morning?'' Po's voice, unbeknownst to himself, subconsciously raised in volume, as if he wanted Tigress to hear him and understand that trouble was underhand. Tigress gasped quietly as she heard the voice of her father. However, she was even more shocked when she heard that there was no tone of anger or anything of the liking in Shifu's voice.

-''It is indeed, Po. Now, how is Tigress?'' Shifu then asked, the friendly tone in his voice still remaining, being almost false. Po gulped slightly before stuttering a little once again.

-''Uh, well… She's completely fine, and… She's had a good night's sleep!'' Po's voice easily showed the panic that was present in it. Shifu gave a sort of weak smile before proceeding to knock on the feline's door. Po gulped once again, in fear of what Master Shifu would do to him when he found out the truth.

-''Did you have a good night's sleep, daughter?'' Shifu then asked in an almost unnaturally friendly voice.

''Seems like Karjak really got him to understand compassion and such…'' Po thought to himself as Shifu and Tigress shared a short father-to-daughter hug. Shifu then positioned himself so that he faced both Kung Fu Masters.

-''Just one thing more…'' Shifu began, stroking his beard.

-''Yes, Master?'' Po and Tigress said in unison.

-''Please keep it down the next time you decide to do it.'' With those words, he proceeded to awake the other masters, but not before witnessing two extreme blushes creep up on the faces of two of the people that mattered the most of him. He chuckled as the other Masters got out from their room.

-''Alright, students. You will have yourself a breakfast meal, and then you will train as usual. However, we are leaving tomorrow, so make sure that you really perfect the flaws I've given out to each one of you.'' With that, Shifu left the barracks and went to the training hall, the small smile still intact from what he had told the love couple.

-''Man, you really did it, didn't you?'' Monkey asked in awe as soon as Shifu was out of hearing range. Tigress' and Po's faces still held easily visible through their fur.

-''Isn't that a little obvious?'' Crane responded to the primate. ''I mean, I think you could be heard throughout the whole palace. It was really nice, wasn't it? I mean, it felt good, right?''

-''Um… Can we change the subject, please?'' Po then said awkwardly, the blush growing in strength on his face. Tigress' face was perhaps even redder than Po's.

-''Come on, bro! Can't you answer the question?'' Mantis then asked, jumping up on Po's shoulder. Po stuttered but eventually got himself to tell it.

-''It felt fabulous. Happy?'' Po then said slightly irritably, but still happily as he shook his head.

-''How did you feel about it, Tigress?'' Viper then asked. She was supposed to be the most mature of the group, but even she couldn't subdue her curiosity. Tigress casually rubbed her strong neck sheepishly with one paw, feeling pretty awkward.

-''Well, uh… I… It felt awesome. That's what it felt like.'' Tigress finally said, feeling almost just as irritated as Po. But seriously, could you blame them for asking?

''Seriously, can we change the subject?'' Po then shot in, getting slightly annoyed by the other's curiousity.

-''Alright, let's get some breakfast, love birds.'' Monkey then said as the rest nodded and followed him, save for Po and Tigress, who asked for a few minutes of privacy and that they would catch up to the rest of the Five very soon. When they were gone, Tigress turned to her black and white lover.

-''Was I really that loud?''

The rest of the day passed by, without much else than the usual training, and of course, the different meals that took place throughout the day. However, just as the evening's training session was done, someone knocked on the Training Hall's door. Shifu opened the door to be greeted by a small rat.

-''How may I help you?'' Shifu then asked in a slightly more harsh voice than he had intended.

-''Oh, hi, Master Shifu.'' The rat said, sort of weakly. ''I… I have a request.'' The rat's voice almost began to crack.

-''What's the matter?'' Po asked as he came over to the door. Shifu threw him a quick glance as he turned back to the rodent in front of him. The rat gulped almost invisibly and then began telling his story.

-''My name is Rat, and… I live, or I lived, in a village far away from here. Then, one day, we were attacked by a large marauder band, and… They, they destroyed, and they… Killed, and…'' Rat's voice cracked again as he kept telling the story. ''They killed my family, everyone, and… I was forced to flee. I came to several villages, but for some reason, I couldn't stay in any of them… I was kicked out by every single one. I don't know why… So, I've finally come here, and I wonder if I can stay in the palace… No one in the village allowed me to stay in their houses either.'' Rat then looked down into the ground, his voice cracking as he spoke.

-''What use could we possibly have of you? You're too weak to do any Kung Fu, and you don't look very useful in any other department either.'' Shifu was about to close the door when Rat came up with an idea.

-''Wait! I'm really good at repairing things!'' Shifu raised an eyebrow.

-''Is that so? Well, in that case…'' Shifu disappeared for a little while, leaving Rat and Po to exchange awkward looks. ''Then you might fix this.'' Shifu then said as he returned with a small piece of what looked like machinery in his hands. ''It's a vital piece of equipment that we use in a station of our training hall. Ever since a certain _somebody_ accidently broke it…'' Shifu emphasized the word while glaring friendly at Po. ''…We haven't been able to use it.'' Shifu then handed the piece of equipment to Rat, who took it and looked it over.

Rat felt his confidence return. If there was anything he could do, it was repair things. He didn't remember much of his home, as he had been abandoned and left by his parents in a forest at an extremely young age, but the person that had taken care of him up to his late teen ages had showed him how to repair things, seeing as the young Rat had shown great interest in fixing things, and since the one that had taken care of him was a craftsman, it would be a good idea to show the art of building and repairing. When he died out of a disease, Rat was forced to leave his home. Then, he had travelled throughout the world and helped different people with fixing things. Seeing as he had no advantages in fighting, being captured by a resurrected Tai Lung didn't speak well for him. Now, he was forced to work for said villain. His current mission was to infiltrate the palace and find out any weaknesses in their tactics. He couldn't possibly defy Tai Lung, for he didn't want to die, so he had to do what he was told. The fact that Rat was skilled in repairing made this so much easier.

-''Oh! Well, this'll be pretty easy to fix…'' Rat then mumbled to himself, but he also made sure that Shifu could hear him. After a few minutes of fidgeting with the piece, he returned it to Shifu.

-''There, it's all done.'' Rat said as he handed it to Shifu. ''Just a little edge in one of the gears.'' Shifu looked over the piece and then stepped aside.

-''Come in.'' He said shortly, Rat slowly walking into the hall. ''If it works, you may stay. There are more things that will need fixing.'' Rat sighed of relief inside and followed Shifu to the great hall, being awe-struck as he saw all the machinery that made up the different training equipment. It didn't take long to get to the machine that Shifu had mentioned as broken and unusable. Rat checked it thoroughly before putting the now repaired piece of equipment back in place.

-''Okay, it should work now.'' He said shortly while turning to Shifu, clapping his hands together in a motion that indicated that he was done. Shifu nodded and then called for Viper, who had, along with everyone else, been watching this whole ordeal without saying much. She slithered over to Shifu.

-''Yes, Master?''

-''Viper, I want you to try The Cyclone of Demise.''

-''Isn't that broken?'' Viper asked curiously, cautiously eyeing the rodent who was standing at Shifu's side. Shifu chuckled and then turned around once again, facing the large machine.

-''Well, our… friend here says that he has been able to repair it. Now, would you try it out to see if it works?'' Viper hesitantly slithered up to the small circular wooden plate. Almost immediately, a number of spears started to shoot out of the holes in the walls that surrounded the great machine. Viper hadn't used it in quite a while, but soon, the natural dodging abilities came into play, and Viper started to gracefully dodge all of the spears.

-''I'm actually surprised you could get it to work; no one in the village managed to get it to work. Very well, you may stay at the palace. Viper, that's good!'' Shifu then shouted to the serpent, which immediately came down from the training machine.

-''Anything else I can repair?'' Rat then asked, sounding a lot more self-confident than before. Shifu shook his head before resuming spending the rest of the days' time with the Five.

-''You may use our storage room for the night. We have no other rooms available, unfortunately.'' Rat then nodded excitedly before Shifu ordered Po to show him the way to the storage room.

_**The Next Day**_

As usual, Tigress had asked Po to stay with her during the night, but they hadn't done anything unusual. Like always, they done their morning routines, and before they knew it, it was time to departure. Like they had before, they all got their bags and gathered in the courtyard. Shifu and Karjak were looking over the situation.

-''Alright, are you ready for this?'' Karjak then asked. ''There is doubtlessly going to be enemies over there. Even though Xiton may not have found out about the Orb, the fort has been and probably still is a popular robbing site. Several bandits have been spotted in the area lately.''

-''I'm not scared by some bandits!'' Monkey then said with a cocky tone. ''Are any of you?''

-''Not at all! I'm so pumped to beat 'em up, my fingers are itching!'' Po then said, repeatedly swinging his arms around, imitating someone who was beating another person up.

-''How long will it take to get to the Fort, Karjak?'' Viper then asked gently, rolling her eyes at the panda's proclamation. Karjak remained silent for a few seconds before responded.

-''Half a day, at most. Remember the Plains of Yinga? We'll have to cut through there in order to get to the region the Fort lies in. Any more questions? The more time we waste, the more the risk of Xiton succeeding in finding all the Orbs.'' When no one said anything, Karjak nodded and started to walk down the Thousand Steps, the rest of the group following him.

-''I hope we find the Orb of Fire now…'' Crane began, flying briskly, looking down at the others on the ground, a few feet below him. ''I mean, it wouldn't be so nice if we found out that the Orb isn't there, right?''

-''Don't worry, Crane.'' Karjak replied, walking just as quickly. ''It's there alright. The tricky part will just be to get out of there without getting killed.''

-''We won't be killed.'' Tigress said shortly, walking closely to Po all the time. ''I mean, we're seven masters of Kung Fu, and one of us is even a God… Could we seriously lose?''

-''Well, come to think of it…'' Karjak then said, stretching his back a little, knocking the backpack he was carrying upwards a bit. ''Most of the bandit bands consists of up to several hundred members. You sure you can handle that?''

-''Of course we can!'' Mantis joined the conversation, still on his seat at Monkey's shoulder. ''Bandits aren't a really big deal, are they now?'' After this, no one said anything more for a question.

Eventually, the group reached a clearance in a forest that lead to the Plains of Yinga. It was pretty late in the afternoon, and as far as Karjak knew, travelling through these lands at night-time wasn't the smartest move one could pull off. That is why Karjak came to a halt after a few hours of brisk travelling.

-''Alright, we'll set up camp here for the night. We DON'T want to travel out there during night-time. Who's taking first watch?'' No one arguing with Karjak's decision, Viper volunteered for taking the first watch. After spending the rest of the evening together, it was time to sleep, Viper taking the first watch.

All the while that this was happening, Shifu and Rat had stayed behind at the palace. Shifu had said that he approved of Rat staying at the palace, but since he didn't want the rodent alone there, he had stayed behind as well. During all of the time that the Five and Karjak was out and travelling, Shifu and Rat had at first not talked, but eventually softened up and started a conversation about different things, mainly about Shifu's past and Rat's skill in repairing, but also a lot of other things. Eventually, it was time for these two to go to bed as well, and by that time, they were good friends. Granted, you might see it as weird for two complete strangers to befriend each other as quickly as they did, but ever since Karjak taught Shifu about compassion and such, he had become a much nicer person, although a small hint of his harshness still remained in him, but he had indeed become a much nicer person.

The next day, the group had gone well past the Plains of Yinga and was now moving rapidly towards the Fort.

-''How much longer until the Fort?'' Po then asked as he ran alongside everyone else. Karjak stopped slightly before looking up into the sky.

-''I'd say… about one more hour if we continue in this pace. Remember to be ready for a fight anytime now. Bandit groups are very common in this area, so don't be surprised when a dozen of wolves or so comes dropping in through the bushes. If that happens, we'll have a very pleasant party on our hands.'' Karjak chuckled slightly before falling silent, twitching his ears. ''As a matter of fact… I think we have one right here!''

He only barely finished the sentence before a large group of wolves attacked, accompanied by an all-too-familiar peacock.


	14. First Confrontation and Observer of Good

-''Come on, that's everything you got?'' Po asked in mock surprise as he dodged another attack from one of the wolves he was currently waging war against. Swaying to one side and thus dodging the attack the wolf sent his way, Po grabbed his arm. Then, jumping up into the air, he tossed the wolf back down to the ground. When he came back down, he landed right on top of a wolf that had come to help his friend. Unfortunately for said wolf, the only help that would be related to him was the medical help he would need when the Dragon Warrior was done with him.

-''Come on, I can take you on all day!'' Tigress roared as she effectively kicked a wolf in the face, sending it spinning into the air. She then whipped around, facing two large wolves with swords. The first one proceeded to slash at her, but she easily dodged it. She then leaped at the two wolves, executing a split kick as she found herself right between them. They were thrown to the ground as Tigress landed safely, quickly dispatching another attacking wolf.

-''Seriously, this is getting boring!'' Karjak said, sort of half loudly from his position on the battlefield, where he was surrounded by a pack of bandits. ''How about we spice things up a little?'' with those words, he flung himself up into the air. There, he remained in place for a few seconds before starting to spin repeatedly. When he came back down, he had a glowing aura of what looked like blue fire around him.

-''I've seen this one before…'' Tigress mumbled to herself as she swiftly punched a wolf in the side of the head, effectively knocking it out.

Karjak, with a roar, spread out his arms in a waving manner. Suddenly, the blue fire that had surrounded him shot outwards in a shockwave, burning and almost melting any wolf in its way. For some reason, though, none of the other Kung Fu masters were affected by it. Karjak then resumed his fighting stance, starting to fight the wolves that were now pouring in to take their dead comrades' places.

Lord Shen, who had joined in on the attack at first, was standing aside, watching the battle. He had actually only planned to delay the group of fighters so that the feared Tai Lung could catch up to them. Apparently, Xiton was using some kind of technique that he liked to call ''Instant Messaging''. With it, he could send messages to other people through the mind, without the need of calling a messenger. Now, he had called for reinforcement from Tai Lung, who wasn't far away.

-''Come on, you scum!'' He then shouted loudly, his voice almost seeming echoing. ''Fight!''

-''Po, look out!'' Monkey shouted as a wolf was nearing him from the rear. Po swiftly turned around, his fist outwards. It made a tremendous contact with the wolf's jaw, shattering it with a sickening crunch. The wolf fell backwards with a howl of pain before trying to attack again. Po, however, span through the air and landed a kick in its face. It was thrown backwards through the air and crashed into a tree. Suddenly, as it was trying to get up once again, Mantis appeared it its side.

-''I'd stay down if I were you!'' he teased before kicking the wolf up into the air, launching it into a rock when it came back down, effectively killing it. He then jumped back to Po, who was having a fairly uneven battle with one of the larger wolves.

-''Don't worry, I've got thi-'' Po didn't finish his sentence as he felt something heavy hit his backside, making him disoriented. He swayed about, trying to get himself into the right position. When he turned around, he was met with a heavy punch to the face, causing him to fall down to the ground.

-''Ah, the Dragon Warrior… Have you missed me!'' Tai Lung then kicked Po in the face, breaking his nose and causing him to start to bleed. He cackled maniacally and evilly as Po slowly dragged himself up from the dirt. He then swung his arms around once again, getting into his stance.

-''I've beaten you before, Tai Lung. And I can just as easily do it again!'' He then roared. Nobody thought about it just then, but all of the fighting around the two life-long rivals had stopped when Tai Lung had entered the scene. The Kung Fu masters gathered on one side, the large bandit group on the other, or at least the remainder of the group who wasn't lying dead on the ground.

Karjak was indeed very correct when he had said that these packs consisted of up to several hundred members. They had fought the wolves for many minutes, and it still felt like they just kept coming.

-''Oh, is that so?'' Tai Lung snickered, obviously trying to aggravate the giant panda. Po just held his ground, glaring daggers at the adversary.

-''Destroy them!'' Lord Shen then barked out an order, the wolves immediately springing into action. This element of surprise sort of caught the fighters off guard, but they quickly recovered once the fight had begun. Po also started his fight with Tai Lung, while Karjak decided to take on Lord Shen.

The battle was intense.

While neither of any of the two major battling couples, namely Karjak and Lord Shen, and Po and Tai Lung, managed to get the battle to go in their favor, the rest of the Five were having a hard time dealing with the wolf group, or group and group, it could now probably be called an army. Without their two best fighters, they weren't nearly as good as before. Of course, the battle was far from getting them defeated, but the wolves had advantages, if you like.

-''We… Can't keep… Going on like this!'' Viper said as she launched a sort of whip-like move with her tail. It hit a wolf in the face, launching him backwards and making him crash into two other wolves that had come to help out. They all tumbled along the ground, while Viper faced the next threat.

-''No… They'll overwhelm us for sure!'' Crane called out, being hit in one of his legs. Falling to the ground with a shout of pain, he still managed to launch a powerful strike at the deliverer of the attack. It howled while being knocked backwards, but eventually finding its balance again. He then proceeded to land the finishing blow on the now incapacitated Crane. Crane closed his eyes, not even trying to defend himself. It was hopeless, and he knew it.

The blow never came. Instead, he heard two shouts of battle as two forms came into his view as he opened his eyes. One small, one a lot larger.

-''Need a hand?'' Mantis chuckled, sending two wolves flying through the air, including the one that was just about to destroy Crane.

-''We got plenty to go around!'' It was a different voice, one that belonged to his primate friend, Monkey. He jumped up into the air just as two wolves charged him from different direction, having them smack into each other. When he came back down again, his feet landed on yet two more heads of wolves that had appeared. With a snicker, he slammed the heads together, emitting a sort of playful wince when the two skulls made contact, reminding one of what a sound a melon that was dropped and shattered would make. Crane looked at his injured leg.

-''I… I don't know if I can walk.'' Crane winced in real pain as his leg stung. Monkey and Mantis then proceeded to keep fighting off the still incoming wolves.

-''These things just keep coming!'' Tigress then shouted as she and Viper joined the three male fighters. Viper gasped in fear as she looked at the injured bird.

-''Crane? What happened?'' she asked worriedly. Crane just smiled and shook his head.

-''Nothing serious, just… Watch out!'' at the warning, Viper immediately spun around, ready to face the incoming threat. This one, however, wasn't a usual threat.

-''ARGH!'' the large creature roared as it slammed its large fists into the ground. Tigress helped drag Crane of out harm's reach, but they would really need to get all hands on deck if they were going to take on this thing. Currently, that option wasn't available.

-''What the heck is that thing?'' Mantis yelled as the giant troll's fist nearly crushed him. He managed to land a sort of weak strike on the outer side of the fist, but it barely had any effect.

Meanwhile, back at the Jade Palace, Rat was spending the day like usual. This time, however, instead of repairing, he had decided to build things, create things from scratch. Right now, he was working on some kind of strange weapon.

-''What are you working on now, Rat?'' Master Shifu then asked as he walked into the room Rat used as his work shed, if you like. At first, Rat didn't notice him because being so engulfed in his work, but quickly snapped his head up when Shifu cleared his throat.

-''Oh, Hi… Shifu!'' Rat stuttered, still, kind of startled from Shifu's unexpected visit. ''Well, I got an idea from watching one of those scrolls in the Hall of Heroes, and I found a fairly interesting picture that held like… some kind of claws or something like that. I'm trying to replicate them right now.'' The explanation came as the rodent held up the contraptions.

It was two small wooden box-like objects with handles on them. On one of the boxes, there were three knives jutting out in a spear-like fashion, reaching out about a foot or so. Definitely a close combat weapon.

-''What do you plan on doing with it?'' Shifu then asked, still pretty curious about the new ''weapon'' Rat was underway with creating.''

-''I dunno…'' he mumbled to himself, struggling with getting a piece of it right. ''Maybe let you have it?'' Rat knew that he wasn't really supposed to be their friend, and that he really had to find out whatever they were planning, but he found that slightly hard. For starters, the fact that they even CONSIDERED letting him stay there made it a little hard to do this.

-''Very well.'' Shifu said, leaving the room. ''I hope it works out the way you intended it too.'' Rat sighed and rubbed his temples, thinking about all the problems he would have to solve in order to succeed with this.

-''You're a really stubborn one, aren't you?'' Tai Lung roared as the battle between him and Po continued, still having no victor. Tai Lung and Po had both executed a number of attacks on each other, but for some reason, no one emerged victorious.

-''Of course I am.'' Po shot right back, ignoring the pain in his broken nose. Normally, a broken nose would probably completely put anyone out of commission, but ever since Po had found inner peace, he had found it a lot easier to ignore pain. Or at least not be affected by it. ''I'm the Dragon Warrior, am I not?''

Tai Lung growled and spun around, dealing a kick to the panda, who blocked the attack and responded with a flurry of punches, Tai Lung blocking these as well.

-''Guys! How are you doing out there?'' Po then called out, still fighting the snow leopard. He had just noticed the giant troll that was attacking his friends, who were only barely able to stay out of death's grasp. Crane being injured didn't help much either.

-''We're… losing!'' Tigress shouted, protecting the rest of the group from another attacking wolf. ''They'll kill us if we don't do something!''

Meanwhile, Karjak's and Lord Shen's battle had pulled away from the main group, now taking place many feet away. This battle, however, was more in Karjak's favor than it was in Lord Shen's.

-''You might as well give up, Shen. You'll never win this fight.'' Karjak growled, throwing a fist, aiming for Shen's head. Shen dodged it and used his own weapon to attack. Karjak anticipated the attack, using the outwards side of his paw to block the attack. Shen tried then a stab, but Karjak leapt up into the air, kicking as he came down. This time, Shen didn't have time to dodge the attack, and the kick nailed him right in the face. Staggering backwards, he growled.

-''Alright, I'll give it to you. You are a very skilled fighter. You may have won this battle, but you'll never win the war that is growing.'' With those words, Lord Shen disappeared in a dark cloud. Karjak scowled at the spot that Shen had been standing moments ago. Then, without any more hesitation, Karjak proceeded back to the others.

The group was almost getting overwhelmed. The wolves just kept coming, and the giant troll just kept pouring on the attack. Luckily enough, or whatever could be called lucky, Tigress along with Monkey and Viper had held the attackers at bay. But if this fight continued, they would lose within minutes.

Just then, Tai Lung managed to get a strike in on Po that sent him flying through the air. He landed just a few feet away from the rest of the group, slowly getting up from the ground. He looked at the group, seeing them getting slowly defeated.

-''Guys! Don't give up!'' He shouted as bravely as he could muster, but he found his voice crumbling under the pressure. Then, Tai Lung caught up with him, landing a kick in the side of his head, knocking him down to the ground once again.

-''I'd sort of expected more of a challenge from the Dragon Warrior.'' Tai Lung snickered, still watching the rest of the Five, now joined by Karjak, getting almost literally crushed under the threatening boot of defeat.

-''Ugh…'' Po grunted while dragging himself up once again. ''That's not how it turned out last time…'' With a roar, Po flung himself at Tai Lung, fist high up in the air. Tai Lung, however, sidestepped him and used one leg to swiftly trip him up, causing Po to fall down again.

-''Hahaha…'' Tai Lung laughed. ''Look at you! You can't even fight me!'' Tai Lung walked over to him, starting to kick his sides. Po grunted in pain as he gripped his ribs. It all looked very dark right now.

But unbeknownst to every single one of the fighting creatures, there was one single figure watching them all from a cliff far away. It was covered in robes, seemingly being made out of darkness.

-''Help is on the way…''


	15. First Victory and A New Ally

Po literally felt his own life flash before his eyes. Ever from the only memory he had from his home village, all the time up to the present. The time he had eaten all of his father's bamboo furniture, or that time when his father gave him a piggyback ride. And especially that day, that glorious day, that dreadful day, when he had been chosen as the Dragon Warrior. How he had felt the hatred of all the Kung Fu Masters, especially Tigress, the woman he had loved almost his whole life, ever since seeing her.

And the woman he was currently a couple with.

Po's self-confidence was never particularly high, but it dipped lower than ever when Po felt the rejection the Furious Five showed towards him. Granted, that was sort of to be expected, when you come to think about it. A panda falls out from the sky from practically nowhere and steals all that Tigress had worked for throughout her entire life. Must've felt devastating.

Still, Po hadn't given up. He didn't give up when every single one of the Five practically could have beaten him to a bloody pulp. He didn't give up when Shifu completely humiliated him in front of them. He didn't give up when he was on a mission to save Tigress' life. And most of all, he didn't give up while fighting Tai Lung, nor when fighting Lord Shen.

But now, he felt more defeated than ever. Not so much by the fact that he would die right here, in a small clearance of a forest, but the fact that he would die and leave everyone else to die as well, that hurt more. A Kung Fu warrior's destiny is to die, however protect everyone he can during his lifetime.

Wouldn't be very easy to protect anyone right now, would it?

-''Hahaha!'' An approaching wolf laughed maniacally as he drew his sword from the hilt on his belt. ''I've got you now!''

-''Oh yeah?'' Mantis said, voice still full of defiance. ''No one will defeat us when I still draw breath!''

The wolf then put his sword just in front of Mantis' face, making him gulp in fear, lowering his pincers in intimidation.

-''Well, then I guess we'll have to stop that, right?'' With those words, the wolf reared back his sword, ready to kill.

There was no chance of being able to defend against this. The group had been forced up against a mountain wall. And the wolves just still kept coming. This couldn't have been just a normal bandit band. It had to be something bigger.

-''What are we going to do?'' Crane said, the pain still residing in his leg. He tried his best to still appear in form to fight, but the broken bone in his leg completely prevented him from hit. Po had his broken nose, but it didn't do so much to him. They were nevertheless facing inevitable defeat and, probably, death.

-''There's not much you CAN do! Hahaha!'' The wolf then laughed, stretching in his full length, his armor making rustling sounds as he moved. ''Come on, we'll make this quick and easy. Or, if you prefer that way, we can make it slow and painful.''

Tigress growled at the wolf, refusing to leave her fighting stance. For some reason, she wanted to make sure that until death, she would never give up hope. Although that hope was fading now. The canine chuckled while still twirling his sword around.

-''Look at you all! You're completely at my mercy… What to do with you… Ah! I have the best idea…'' A vicious smug found its way onto the wolf's face. He then turned to the great group of wolves, who were still at least a hundred in numbers. Yep, this definitely had to be an army under the control of Shen and Tai Lung.

-''You may do what you please with all of them, but I want the tiger.'' The wolf, who apparently was the leader of the pack. He then turned whipped around, the smug still on his face. He then rather forcefully walked up to Tigress and gripped her cheeks with one clawed paw, causing her to flinch away in disgust.

-''We'll do it the way you choose to. If you refuse, I might make it slightly painful. But if you cooperate, you might just enjoy it. When Tigress spat at him in rage, he hit her in the face hard, causing Po to growl loudly. The wolf turned to the Dragon Warrior, gritting his teeth.

-''What you gonna do, fatso?'' The wolf then snickered. ''I bet it felt real good banging that hot piece of ass right there, didn't it?''

That was it.

With a roar, Po flung himself at the wolf with surprising ferocity, repeatedly punching him in the face. He then kicked the wolf in the side several times, possibly breaking a rib or two. He proceeded to attack even more, but the wolf countered him, jabbing him in an area just below the diaphragm. Po lost his breath and bent over, gasping.

-''Kill them all!'' the wolf commanded, and almost immediately, the wolves sprang to action, including the giant troll that had joined the party not too long ago. Inspired by Po's fighting spirit, the rest of the five, save for Crane, prepared to fight one last battle. Karjak, who had been completely silent lately, decided to join in.

-''You know there's no use in fighting!'' One of the attacking wolves growled as he was about to stab Tigress, who was busy holding another one at bay before turning around to face the incoming attack.

Too late.

The wolf had a clear line of attack on Tigress, who couldn't ever have enough time to do anything about the attack. So when the wolf moved in for the kill, Tigress turned to it with a gasp, and so did everyone else, even Karjak. But what happened else, no one could ever have predicted.

Tigress thought that she would be pierced by the blade, but instead, Po positioned himself in between her and the incoming blade, effectively taking the blow but at the same time having the blade pierce his chest. With a grunt of pain, and blood starting to stream out, Po grabbed the handle of the blade and twisted it, breaking the wolf's hand. It yelped in pain as Po then punched its head with all the force he could muster, even shattering it in the process. After that, he fell to the ground with a shallow gasp, the blade still in his chest.

Tigress couldn't believe what she saw. It was just like in that dream she had. When Lord Shen had pierced his body with his sword-like weapon, he had taken away all that could be called her world. Without realizing it, Tigress fell to her knees with a wail of sorrow, just next to Po's body.

Right there, they looked done for, like there was nothing that could possibly help them at all. But, they were all wrong.

Meanwhile, the figure that had been watching this whole battle was now on his way to help out. He was running very quickly, leaving behind him a trail of what seemed to be shadow on the ground he touched. Only one thought was in his mind.

Helping the Dragon Warrior and his friends.

It didn't take long for the figure to reach the heart of the battle. When he did, he immediately started to kill wolves, using some kind of claws made out of darkness, ripping apart the wolves. Now, it would seem that it would be impossible for anyone to reach them in time, however, this creature managed to. Tossing wolves up into the air as he ran, he soon reached the huddled together group that was desperately trying to fight the enemy. With one swipe of a clawed hand, he knocked back the first wave of wolves. He then took on a pose that was both threatening and teasing, having both his clawed hands out in a dashing manner.

-''And what the hell are you supposed to be?'' The leader wolf then spat at the stranger, whose robes was swaying in the wind. Some of the stranger's head was also revealed, showing nothing but what could be identified as shadows.

-''Greetings, ladies and gentlemen…'' The figure began, elegantly waving his arms in the air, the claws almost seeming like they were glowing. ''I… am Mitc.'' Mitc then announced as he pulled all the robes off of himself, revealing a body that was made out of nothing else but shadows.

-''Get out of my way!'' The wolf leader growled as he aggressively approached the shadowy figure, sword ready to cut.

-''You want to get to them, you have to get through me first.'' With that, Mitc growled in a way that could be identified as challenging.

-''It would be a pleasure.'' The wolf then said as he slashed at Mitc. Then, it was his turn to be surprised.

The blade just passed through his body without doing any damage at all, save for dispersing the shadows making up his body a little. The shadows quickly returned, however, and were followed by Mitc's deep chuckle.

-''You can go ahead and do that all you want. But in case you are done…'' After saying this fairly quickly, Mitc slashed at the wolf with his own claws.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. The wolf stood still, but didn't move.

-''Any second now…'' Mitc whispered as he looked at his claws. Then, after a few moments, the wolf's body slowly split apart, turning into slices at the areas where Mitc had slashed. The body fell effortlessly to the ground, the blood almost seeming to bee boiling.

-''Anyone else want to try?'' Mitc then asked, the challenging tone in his voice easy to recognize. The other wolves trembled in fear shortly before fleeing. Tai Lung muttered a short ''I'll be back'', before also disappearing in smoke. The giant troll, not smart enough to realize its own good, decided to attack and ended up in its inevitably slaughter.

Mitc then turned to the group, holding out one shadowy arm. Two what almost looked like tentacles appeared out of the palm of the hand. One went to Po, seemingly healing him, removing the wound and everything. The other one went to Crane's leg, doing the same thing that it had done to Po. Crane got up on his feet.

-''The Fort of Kujia is just up ahead. And by the way, good to see ya, Karjak.'' Mitc then said shortly, before disappearing much like Tai Lung and Shen had.

When he got confused looks from everyone, he groaned lowly in irritation.

-''I'll explain later!'' With that, the group pressed on to e temple.


	16. Story Telling and Finding A Route

-''So to put it short, Mitc is a sort of demi-god mercenary. You hand him a contract, promise a nice reward, and he'll do it. He's a kind of person that 'shoots first and doesn't even bother asking question later'. Although he only does it if there's something really nice in it for him.'' When Karjak explained the nature of their savior, a demigod by the name of Mitc, everyone was indeed in pretty much shock.

-''Man…'' Po began, his voice still affected by the confusion and surprises of the adventure. ''A war of the Kung Fu masters is turning into a war of the Gods… That's awesome!'' Even though he was confused, Po still couldn't resist throwing in an occasional humorous comment. Comments that actually lightened up the mood.

-''I'm mostly glad that Po is okay…'' Tigress then sort of half whispered, but still easily loud enough for everyone to hear. ''I never got to thank that Mitc guy.'' Karjak chuckled at this statement.

-''Tigress, I'm just going to tell you something… Mitc isn't a guy who just takes 'Thank you' for reward. Either it's some kind of treasure or something of the liking, or the contract is not done. That's just how he works.''

-''He sounds like a nice person… So he doesn't only work for good, as long as there's a reward in for it?'' Viper then asked, thinking about this new sort of ''ally'' if you please.

-''Well, it's mostly if there's just a scavenging mission or to take someone out. Other than that, for example… Destroy the Dragon Warrior; it'd take a LOT of reward to get him to do that. Not that he even would do it, I'm just saying to give you guys a hint.'' Came the reply from the God, stretching his back to straighten up the bag he was carrying, after retrieving them from the fight.

-''Hehe, that's usually your typical mercenary…'' Monkey chuckled, pointing out the obvious. Suddenly, Karjak came to a stop.

-''Alright…'' He began, turning around to face the group. ''The Fort is just around this corner.'' Karjak motioned towards a bend in the path behind him. ''I'm telling you now; just getting ACCESS into the Fort is hard enough. There's a multitude of different security systems that are believed to have been built many years ago. Sigh… Many careless lives have been lost because of unwary eyes.''

-''Any ideas on how to get in?'' Crane asked, his voice almost sounding a little frightened. Thankfully, no one noticed it.

-''Well, getting in from the outside will be close to impossible. There are at least three traps or so every inch of the perimeter. Watch.'' Karjak started waving his hands about, causing some kind of blue energy to appear. Eventually, the blue energy turned into what looked like a real person. With one swift wave of one paw, the person look-alike started to walk towards the Fort. Almost immediately, when it came about fifteen feet or so away from the front gates, several spears were quickly flung out of the ground, effectively skewering the thing.

-''See what I'm talking about here? We get close to that thing, and we're going to have to pull spears out of our rear ends for hours!'' This comment got a few light laughs from the group, but the conversation quickly returned to the serious topic.

-''So how do we get inside?'' Crane then repeated himself.

-''Well, yes, there is a way. Not many know about it; it is very dangerous to traverse, and the end of the way is going to put us in the next dangerous situation.''

-''We've been though dangerous things before.'' Tigress then said, a small bit of her coldness returning to her voice, keeping in mind to still remind them that while she had softened up to her friends, she was just as hardcore as ever to her enemies, and she made sure that her friends never forgot that.

-''I don't doubt that for a second!'' Karjak replied playfully, still stretching his back. It was getting fairly late in the afternoon, but it was definitely not time to set up camp down here. ''Now, on to the other way in. Not too far away from here, there is a secret underground system of tunnels that connects to the Fort's basement and dungeon. Now, even though the tunnel itself also has a security system, it's not nearly as dangerous as the one on the exterior. We shall head there, and proceed inside tomorrow. Trust me, those tunnels are not very pleasant at night, because that's when the Ghouls awaken.''

-''Ghouls?'' Mantis asked, his voice toned by frightened curiosity. ''What are 'Ghouls'?''

-''Doesn't sound very nice.'' Monkey commented, chuckling slightly, but quieted down when he realized the seriousness in the conversation. Then, Karjak dropped his bag onto the ground, motioning for everybody to sit down. He then announced that it was time to tell a little history.

-''It all began right here, several hundreds of years ago…'' Karjak began, getting everyone to listen curiously. ''This fort was actually a vital point in the Great War between the two sides of the Gods. Meaning mostly me, many of my good brothers and such, and then Xiton, he with the rest of the evil side. Not only were the Gods present in this war, but also a lot of mortal fighters. Mortals who gave their lives to protect the world. Anyhow, this Fort was the location of one of the most important battles in that entire war. Here also lived a very skilled magician. Fortunately, the good side won this battle, and very important territory was gained. However, the magician had come across a sort of spell that allowed us to resurrect all of our fallen ones, but something went amiss. It did indeed resurrect the warriors, but it didn't turn them to good. Instead of returning them to their previous living states, they were twisted and changed into horrifying creatures that hunger after blood and flesh… They came to be known as Ghouls, immortal, mindless killing machines that slaughter everything in their paths. They've lived for hundreds of years, haunting the Fort. Just before the magician was slaughtered by the creatures, he hid away his relic of power, the Orb of Fire in a locked chest in his chamber where he fiddled with all the magic he used. If we can solve the riddle of the magician, not only will we receive the Orb, but we will also get control of all the Ghouls in the Fort! Legend has it that the one who controls the Orb of this magician, he also controls the Ghouls.'' When no one responded with anything particular, Karjak just shrugged. ''Or that's what legend says.''

Po actually blinked once and stared off into another direction, as if he was in deep thought. No one really noticed it as their once again gathered their things, planning to start a search for the secret entrance into the fort.


End file.
